When He Walks Into a Gym, They Still Say ‘Here’s Hubba Jubba’ and That’s Good Enough for . . . : The Roundball Ref

Only seconds remained in a close girls’ basketball game between Mar Vista and Coronado when a Mar Vista player stepped back to the foul line after making the front end of a one-and-one.

Incongruously, the girl laughed as the referee handed her the ball.

However, this was no normal referee. This was Bob Moss, easily the most colorful and unconventional referee in San Diego County.

The tension had been broken for the player from Mar Vista because Moss had told her: “You’re as cool as an ice cube.”

This had been a busy Tuesday for Moss, 46, who teaches at UC San Diego and does motivational consultation in addition to moonlighting as a referee or, in the spring and summer, umpire.

Whatever Moss is doing, he does it with flair.

Moss doesn’t call fouls, but rather bellows them. “Boom,” he’ll yell, or “pow.” He twists and gyrates to make his point, should it be a foul on a basketball player or a runner out at the plate in baseball.

“Hey, hey, hey, it’s time to play,” shouted Moss, spinning a bounce pass to an amused 17-year-old waiting to inbound the ball.

He is the same way in his classes at UCSD, exuberant and outgoing. He is even outlandish on his telephone answering machine.

When Bob Moss is around, everyone knows it. And none of this has anything to do with the fact that he is large, very large.

His greatest visibility these days is on the basketball court.

“I still enjoy the feedback I get,” Moss said. “I’m a likable official in a world that hates officials.”

As is usually the case with those who dare to be different, Moss is not unanimously applauded. It seems that he has not been getting what might be called “top of the line” games these days.

“The games I’m getting are like the Chargers playing Francis Parker High,” Moss said. “I’m not a conformist and my assignments show it. I get stinky games. I’ve slowed down a lot, but I never got the real good games based on my style.”

This is because a lot of San Diego high school coaches think the players, and maybe the coaches, should be the focal point, not the officials. Especially not rotund officials who are flamboyant.

“He has his own unique style and has certainly added a different dimension to the state of refereeing,” Rick Eveleth, the La Jolla basketball coach, said. “He puts on a show for the fans, but I don’t know if that’s the role of a referee.”

Said a North County basketball coach who asked to remain anonymous: “I don’t want the official to be the show. There are a couple of officials in San Diego who put on quite an act. That’s poor officiating.”

Moss also has his supporters.

“I don’t know if he calls the greatest games,” Monte Vista Coach Zach Peck said, “but when I was at University, the kids really enjoyed him. I always thought Bob was great and kind of funny. He’d come by the bench and say, ‘Yeah, I might have missed it (the call).’ It’s kind of like a coach saying to the kids, ‘Yeah, I should have made the switch sooner.’ That I blew it. I think kids like that.”

The surprised look on the face of the girl on the Mar Vista team would seem to indicate Moss is still something special.

“When I walk into a gym,” Moss said, “they still say, ‘Here’s Hubba Jubba.’ When I go on a baseball field, they say, ‘Here’s Pow.’ That’s good enough for me.”

It may be good enough now, but it is not exactly the fulfillment of Hubba Jubba’s dream. He wanted to become the next Emmett Ashford, the former major league umpire.

“Ashford was my idol,” Moss said. “Every time I walked on the baseball field, I saw Emmett Ashford walk on the field. When he did his number down the foul line at Westgate Field, he was the only umpire the fans cheered.

“He was flamboyant. That’s become my lifestyle, and that’s why I’m eternally grateful to him.”

When Moss umpired in the California League in 1971, he was known as “The Giant Economy Size” Emmett Ashford. However, Moss’ dreams ended in Modesto instead of Yankee Stadium.

During an interview on a nationally televised baseball game between Detroit and Chicago in 1970, the late Ashford told broadcaster Tony Kubek that Moss was one of the “up and coming” black umpires.

“It was my dream to become the next black umpire in the majors,” Moss said.

Moss umpired San Francisco Giant spring training games in Arizona in 1972, but that was the extent of what once appeared to be a promising big league career.

“Moss had a couldn’t-miss label,” said National League umpire Eric Gregg, a teammate of Moss at umpire development school in St. Petersburg, Fla., in 1971. “He did a hell of a job, was a super umpire and was real colorful. He took me under his wing and helped me a lot.

“I think he had the ability to make it as a major league umpire. They were very high on him at one time and then they soured on him. I heard the supervisor saying he showboated too much. They didn’t want another Emmett Ashford. They didn’t want a flamboyant umpire. He definitely had the ability, but there are other things involved in getting to the majors. They have to buy your act.”

A lot of people have bought Moss’ act and have been entertained by it, but they aren’t at the major league level.

At that umpiring school, Moss got a chance to umpire at the major league level--though not a major league game. He worked a Boston Red Sox intrasquad game, and ended that game by calling Carl Yastrzemski out on strikes with arms going in all directions and legs kicking. After the game, he was advised: “Take it easy on the stars.”

That, however, was Bob Moss’ style.

“That type of officiating is fun,” Moss said. “Officiating will never be the same as it was. Now you have people who don’t have human relations skills. They’ve taken the creativity out of officiating. They are trying to make everyone look alike. I’m against that. I do my own thing.”

After his disappointment, Moss went a different direction with his career. He would teach and motivate, thinking they were quite interrelated, and officiate as a part-time endeavor.

“If you want to do something,” UCSD junior Dan Levin said, “Bob Moss is the spark to get you to do it.”

Levin is one of a number of Moss’ students who have gone on to earn money either refereeing basketball games or umpiring baseball games.

Moss, who joined the UCSD staff in 1971, prides himself on his ability to motivate and bring out the best in people.

In the past three years, he has given about 150 motivational speeches on officiating, the “Psychology of Sport,” and “The Sharing of Enthusiasm.”

In addition, he is working as a motivational consultant for Coach Gary Zarecky’s basketball team at U.S. International University.

Obviously, there is a lot of entrepreneur and even a little of a flim-flam man in Moss, but there is also a genuine warmth and self-confidence that makes people feel good.

“Some students might think he is making a fool of himself,” said UCSD junior Perry Seto, “but he isn’t.”

At the end of class, Moss has his students join together in a circle and cheer for one another.

A Moss-ism: “I like to make people feel like they’re important. People who need that most are those with the least skills. You have to learn to appreciate yourself. True geniuses don’t become known until after they die. I believe in telling people how good they are.”

“Usually, the less noticeable an umpire, the better,” said senior Tony Mello, who umpired minor league Padre exhibition games with Moss in 1984. “Bob fudges that one a bit. He’s pretty creative and it’s a riot to see him work and work with him.”

Of course, Moss has a way of making his colleagues a bit less noticeable.

As Dan Levin said: “If you’re working with him, it’s embarrassing because nobody notices you. The only way to describe Bob is to see him behind the plate. Somebody is proud to be called out if they are called out by Bob.”