After 60 years of officiating, referee Charles Adkins has seen it all

When Charles Adkins first donned the black-and-white stripes and put a whistle around his neck, it was out of necessity.

Sports always interested Adkins, a self-proclaimed “farm boy.” He wanted to play football and basketball, but his father did not have time to “get off the tractor,” Adkins said, meaning no one could pick him up from practice.

So a young Adkins found another way onto the fields and courts. He learned the rules, memorized the signals and became a referee for high school basketball games.

That was back in 1965. In 1971, Adkins added football to his list of duties. 

Since then, Adkins has been dedicated. Even at the age of 82, he has not slowed down — in fact, he’s somehow added another sport, calling high school volleyball games as well. The Georgia High School Officials Association recently honored him for his six decades of work as a referee.

“I’ll admit I never thought I’d do it this long, but when I got older I figured I could give something back to the kids,” Adkins said. “If they want to play sports, they need officials to be there.”

In his 60-plus years of officiating games across Middle Georgia, Adkins has seen it all. He’s interacted with legendary coaches. He’s called state championship games. He’s seen the rulebook change.

The only thing that has not changed is his motivation, his reason for putting in the work as each new basketball and football season rolls around.

“I enjoy it, and I think I can contribute to the development of the students,” Adkins said. “I like to be associated with the sport. When I met the young players and the captains, I would not only be talking about football but ask about their grades and what they want to do in life.”

Iconic coaches and tough conversations

Almost as entertaining as Adkins’ conversations with young athletes are his interactions with coaches.

Throughout his career, Adkins said one of the most important parts of the gig is standing his ground with coaches. While a challenge for some referees, Adkins never had a problem with it.

“A lot of coaches try to intimidate the officials. I never let ‘em, because that’s what they want. Then they’ll try to mess with the game,” he said.

Whether it was basketball — boys and girls — or football, coaches and sometimes even fans would get in Adkins’ face. One picture of Adkins published in a 1984 edition of the Peach County Leader-Tribune shows him calmly looking towards then-Peach County head coach Shirley Troutman as she disputes a call.

“You get used to it,” he said.

Sometimes that was a good thing, according to Adkins, who recalled a memorable moment against one of Middle Georgia’s most highly-regarded hoops coaches.

Don “Duck” Richardson led the Southwest Patriots to multiple state championships in the 1970s and ‘80s. He once led a starting lineup that saw all five players start at the Division I level in college. Richardson was known just as much for his fire and occasional fury on the court as he was for his winning ways, though. 

One night when Adkins worked a Southwest home game — this was at the little gym they used to call “The Matchbox,” Adkins noted, not the shiny new surface the Patriots play on nowadays — the spirited head coach got very upset about a foul called by Adkins.

“As I reported the foul, of course, you had to come by his bench. Over there the fans are right behind the coach, they can hear everything he says. So he says, ‘That was a bad call,’ except he sure didn’t use the word ‘bad,’” Adkins said, smiling. “He used a word I won’t say.”

Adkins is a churchgoing man, after all — the only place he might have spent more time than the sideline is in the pews of his church in East Macon, where he helps manage finances.

So Adkins calmly kept walking and reported the foul to the scorer’s table. He relished Richardson’s ruckus the whole way. It was only after letting Richardson wind himself up a bit that Adkins turned around.

“I T’d him up,” Adkins said, laughing as he described giving the iconic Macon coach a technical. “He understood he was wrong. I later invited him to be the speaker at a banquet, and he accepted. I always loved officiating for (his games).”

Other precious memories for Adkins include calling state championship basketball games in Atlanta, seeing girls basketball teams play halfcourt games back in the day and watching special players rack up points faster than he could believe.

“I once saw a girl put up more than 50, that was in ‘71,” Adkins said, though he wasn’t sure of the athlete’s name. “When you see things like that, you love the job.”

Correcting mistakes and knowing the rules

An encounter with well-travelled Middle Georgia football coach Jesse Hicks was memorable for a different reason. The current East Laurens coach was still at the helm for Central when Adkins officiated a game at the iconic Henderson Stadium in Macon around 2016.

“(Hicks) asked how many timeouts he had left. Another ref told him three left. Well, he didn’t. He had two. That ref wasn’t doing his job,” Adkins said.

After hearing he had three timeouts, Hicks took one of them. Adkins walked over and informed Hicks he only had one timeout left.

“He said, ‘Whoa whoa whoa.’ He started talking about what the other official said, and I had to correct that mistake,” Adkins said. “And then — I probably shouldn’t have said this — I said, ‘Weren’t your assistants keeping track?’

“Isn’t that what they’re supposed to do, assist?”

Humorous as it was — the memory still evoked a laugh from Adkins as he stood on the steps of his church almost a decade later — that quip was not his typical style. The longtime official takes the rules very seriously. As the regulations of the game have evolved over the past 60 years, he has stayed diligent.

“I read through the rules thoroughly every year. Usually it’s the same, but you have to take care,” Adkins said. “If you don’t take things seriously, you will make a mistake.”

Even if he does slip up, Adkins said it’s important that he holds his ground. Coaches will take advantage and complain more, which only leads to fans taking a similar approach.

“When I became a (football) referee, that was my favorite spot because I didn’t have to run as far, but also because I could tune those fans out,” Adkins said. “I could cut them out. I liked being a decision maker. … But even if you tune them out, you really can still hear them.”

It can sometimes still be tough to deal with criticism, Adkins said, but he is relatively mellow about it all.

“Before they criticize the official, they need to know the rules,” he said. “You can go online now and get the rule interpretations.”

After 60 years on the sidelines Adkins has settled in — and he seems to have a few more years left in him, even if it’s not spent on the football field or basketball court.

“I think I’ll go for a few more years before I retire,” Adkins said.

He mentioned how his newest sport, volleyball, has kept him going. 

“As long as I can climb the ladder, blow the whistle and point,” Adkins joked, “then I can keep it up.”