Today I'd like to write about Mr Umberto Ambrozino, who pretty much started soccer in Santa Clara. His birthday is today and he was born in 1919 which would have made him 87 years old. I met Mr Umberto in 1978, 1 year after I received my referee license. He asked me to referee in his adult league but I hesitated fearing that I was new to soccer and the adults would eat me alive. I eventually relented and started reffing for him. What an awakening that was. It was bad enough reffing youth leagues and having parents and coaches yell at you for calls that didn't go there way. In the adult league, you had to deal with the actual players, whose testosterone level was high and all of a sudden they had to stop play because of a call against them. There were a few times when I had players come face to face with me yelling and letting me know what my IQ was and that maybe I should get my glasses checked... and those were the nice ones. It didn't get any nicer when they got thrown out of the game either. What was really hard is that the players could come up and unload on you and you had to stay your ground, not say a demeaning word, and calmly pull out a card and book the player. This player was able to let out his emotions on you and meanwhile, you want to go and knock this players lights out for calling you every name in the book, but you have to be professional and calmly take it. Through it all, Mr Umberto would counsel me and always say that once I leave the field, all my penned up emotions should stay in the field and that I should never take it home with me. It was hard and it took me a little while, but eventually I was able to go home and not dwell on the game.
After a few years into refereeing, I started going to Mr Umberto's shop to get my hair cut and that was always a joy for me. We always discussed referee war stories and I would always get a good haircut. His little barbershop had papers stacked from wall to wall. But he always knew where everything was and always went to the right stack for any paperwork that he needed.
On the field, Mr Umberto was supreme leader and most players respected him. I once refereed a game with him where he made a call on one of the players, and this player started walking towards Mr Umberto, ready to unleash verbal abuse, when all of a sudden, some players from his team literally tackled the player down and talked some sense into him.
In his later years, Mr Umberto, in his 80's, would still referee. He pretty much stayed near the center line and called the plays from there. During one game , Mr Umberto called an offside about 30 yards from where he was standing. The team that was called for the infraction asked him how he could possibly call an offside from where he was located. He would look at the players, and very politely tell them, "I have great depth perception"....end of argument.
I miss getting my hair cuts from him and his head massage that he would do after every haircut. I made a point of always calling him at his shop and singing Happy Birthday on his birthday. I'll also miss the great cakes that I received from his wife on holidays.
Pretty much, to sum it all, I will miss Mr Umberto.
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