“Basketball is in my blood,” Jeff Jabusch acknowledged. Sidelined this year as a referee due to a hamstring injury, he has time to reflect on an officiating career on the court that has spanned more than 40 years.

Even before he could start playing on elementary school teams, he would attend high school games and then go home and imagine himself running the court and making shots.

After his family moved to Wrangell when he was 6 years old, he played through grade school, middle school and was part of the 1970 Wrangell High School Wolves team that played for the state championship, the team that eventually lost to Anchorage East High School. “That one still hurts,” he said.

In college, he played for intermural and parks and recreation teams, initially planning on becoming a teacher and coach, but practical classes in accounting led him on a different path.

He moved back to Wrangell in the late 1970s and became finance director for the city. Approached about being a high school basketball referee, he jumped at the chance.

“Before that first game, I took the test and studied the rule book. A lot of new refs are hesitant to blow the whistle at first, but I blew the whistle like crazy. The other ref told me I needed to back off a little or the game would last all night!”

He takes the annual test, which is overseen by the National Federation of State High School Associations, regardless whether he knows if he’s going to be a referee that year. The federation not only provides officials with certification, but a rules book and a sample case book, which Jabusch uses as pre-game prep.

“It’s a good way to get your head in the game,” he said. “I read a dozen or so cases, some typical and some kind of unexpected, just to be thinking along those lines.”

“In any game, you might make a thousand right calls, but if you miss a call, that’s going to be the only call people remember. The truth is you get chewed out even when you do the right thing — coaches always want the calls to go their way. As a ref, you just have to take it.”

Jabusch smiled. He has stepped in more than once as coach or assistant coach for the Wolves basketball teams across the years and admitted, “Yes, I yelled at the refs.”

His talent as a referee was honored when he was tapped to referee for regional and state tourneys. “The coaches vote for referees, so it meant a lot that they chose me.”

His lifelong dedication to the sport is grounded in the positive outcomes he sees from a family-oriented activity that includes the whole community. “I like the excitement of the game, and the kids — if you can make a difference in just one kid’s life, you’ve made a difference,” he said.

Jabusch also has volunteered since the 1980s at the annual Elks Hoop Shoot competition for children ages 8 to 13.

After the experience of being a referee during the COVID-19 pandemic, when only the players could be in the gym, he realized how vital every person’s contribution is to the overall game. “The fans in the stands, the cheerleaders, the band — they all matter, they all add to the atmosphere.”

While working the basketball court over the years, his day job at City Hall changed when he became city manager in 2013. He retired in 2017.

Jabusch often teamed up to referee games with a close friend who also was a Wrangell High School basketball graduate, Fred Angerman Jr., who died last March after more than 30 years as a referee.

Jabusch, who has attended several retirement events for others, commented on his temporary absence from the court: “I fooled you all. I might have said I wasn’t going to ref one year, but then I was back at it for a couple more years. And I plan to ref again!”