Wheelchair can't slow down hoops ref

• Joe Slaski is the only referee in Section V basketball to officiate from a wheelchair.
• Former Paralympian was paralyzed from the waste down in a sledding accident about 25 years ago.

Officiating high school basketball is tough enough.

Referees have to be experts in the rules, handle frustrated coaches and irate fans, and run into proper position to make lightning-quick calls.

Unless that ref is Joe Slaski, 47, who wheels into position.

The 47-year-old Macedon resident is the only person among about 300 referees in Section V who officiates high school basketball from a wheelchair.

"I have not seen or heard of anybody in that situation at the high school level," said Kim Henshaw, athletic director at Greece Olympia and an executive board member for the New York State Public High School Athletic Association. "I don't even think I have heard it or seen it even on the national level ... it's quite unique."

Slaski, a first-year JV official, has already received praise from others involved in the game.

"He is an official, first and foremost," said Mark Henderson, president of Central Western Girls Basketball Organization. "It's an awesome experience, but it was Joe who had to take that step to contact the board."

Thanksgiving Day, 1989

Slaski already had begun officiating soccer and Little League in the Syracuse area when he decided to go sledding in one of those orange plastic sleds with his brother and some friends. They took turns going down a steep hill, when Slaski sped down, lost control and landed on his back.

"I went down and here I am over 25 years later having sustained a spinal cord injury," he said. "It could have been a lot worse, but all in all, it pretty much took out my legs."

He was 22 years old and paralyzed from the waist down.

"To be informed by the doctors that my life would be dramatically changing certainly was a hard pill to swallow," Slaski said. "But they say whatever doesn't break you makes you stronger, and there certainly has been a lot of good that has come about from a tragic situation."

He spent about three months at SUNY Upstate Medical University, and several more months in rehabilitation, where he learned how to get around in a wheelchair with the help of a basketball program.

Slaski would go on to earn a degree in music and business from the State University College at Oneonta. He also started speaking about head, neck and spinal cord injuries in schools and became a youth coach and instructor for the YMCA and Boys and Girls club.

But deep down, he was still an athlete.

He started to play basketball in the National Wheelchair Basketball Association, which has 2,300 participants in 33 states. He played for the Syracuse Flyers and Rochester Wheels.

The Challenge Athletes Foundation gave him a $3,000 grant to purchase a specially equipped wheelchair that helps him move faster on the hardwood than a traditional chair. Off the court, he drives a specially equipped car that has a lever, instead of a gas pedal and brake, to stop and accelerate.

"I often say that my accident couldn't have happened at a better time because as funny as it may sound, shortly after the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed, the quality of life for people with disabilities increased across the board," he said.

Slaski had already picked up the whistle and started officiating wheelchair basketball when he joined the U.S. National sled hockey team in the 1997-98 and 2003-04 teams. He credits the training there to help him gain strength and endurance to officiate on the basketball court.

His officiating career took him to games in New York, then Pennsylvania, Texas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Canada and other areas.

But the number of opportunities to officiate wheelchair basketball are few and far between, so when Slaski moved into the Rochester area more than two years ago, he sought out new opportunities and began officiating modified basketball.

He joined the Central Western Girls Basketball Organization after being encouraged by other referees. He also joined the Rochester District Umpires' Association, which provides umpires for local baseball and softball games.

"It's empowering," Slaski said of officiating. "I love it. I get a lot of joy and satisfaction out of it. I also think that it's good that the youth, the children, are seeing somebody with a significant disability in a leadership position."

Varsity scrimmage

Those interested in officiating girls basketball must attend training courses held by the Central Western Girls Basketball Organization to work games. They must make a certain number of meetings, attend on-court training sessions, take tests and be evaluated by senior members in scrimmages and games.

They start working JV games and get promoted to varsity by meeting some of these requirements, buying their uniform and getting fingerprinted.

Slaski has attended every meeting and training session in addition to passing a written exam, getting only two out of 50 questions incorrect.

"He just wants to referee," said Ron Borrelli, who runs the training program for new members of the girls basketball association. "He came in with enthusiasm and he just wanted to learn. You don't do this for money, you really have to love the sport."

One of Slaski's first high school games was a varsity scrimmage in November between Pittsford Mendon and Horseheads, observed by Mark Henderson, president of the association. Henderson is also the chief of the Brighton Police Department.

"This game had the flair," Henderson said. "Right off the bat, it is a fast break this way and a fast break that way. It was game on. We had bodies on the floor. We had intensity, and that's when he stepped into the game. He established he could officiate and he could keep up with the flow of game."

No special accommodations have been made for Slaski, Henderson said.

"You talk about the difference between the two of us?" he said. "There is no difference. We are both out there, we are part of a team. We both make calls. Sometimes we make calls that are right, sometimes we want calls back, but at the end of it, at half time, and at the end of the game, we accomplished something."

TClausen@DemocratandChronicle.com

Twitter.com/ToddJClausen

Meet Joe Slaski

Age: 47.

Residence: Macedon.

Jobs: Officiates games for Central Western Girls Basketball Organization and the Rochester District Umpires' Association. Also works modified games and other rec leagues.

College: State University College at Oneonta, Otsego County.

Playing career: Has played wheelchair basketball for the Rochester Wheels and Syracuse Flyers; a former member of the national sled hockey team.

For more: Those interested in officiating can search online by sport for more information on local associations. To contact the Central Western Girls Basketball Organization, go to cwgbo.com, or for the International Association of Approved Basketball Officials Board 60 (boys), go to board60.com.