Nora Mabie
Missoulian
Montana’s American Indian Caucus urged transparency, accountability and equity from Montana High School Association Executive Director Brian Michelotti in a meeting at the Capitol on March 29.
The meeting followed Lee Enterprises’ publication of a three-part series on the perception and consequences of biased refereeing in high school sports.
Sen. Susan Webber, D-Browning, asked Michelotti why Native referees aren’t given the same opportunities to officiate tournaments.
“We have refs with more than 30 years of experience, but very few that went up to tournament ranks,” she said. “Refs are saying, ‘Why are we being left out?’ … That’s the big question. That’s the big elephant in the room.”
Rep. Tyson Running Wolf, D-Browning, told Lee newspapers earlier this month that he was shocked that two master referees (the most experienced) in the Browning pool had never officiated a state tournament.
Michelotti responded that Montana High School Association (MHSA) has 800 basketball officials, 92 of whom are Native, across 36 pools. In the postseason, he said there are 380 opportunities for officials (48 at the state level, 200 at the district level and 132 at the divisional level).
“We have a process where every one of our schools votes for six to eight officials for divisional-, district- and state-level officials,” Michelotti said. “We tally the votes and use a process to go through and hire four to six officials from each.”
He added that only two schools did not participate in the voting process last year and said that there were 20 Native officials at the district and divisional levels last year.
Webber pushed back, saying there are only three majority-Indigenous Class A schools — Hardin, Browning and Ronan high schools — and argued that when it comes to voting, these schools are outnumbered.
“I’d like to see some more consideration for those schools, so we don’t have this sense that refs are always against us,” Webber said. “Since we only have three Indian schools in Class A, the opportunity to be selected is very low.”
Michelotti said MHSA is looking to add Native American representation to its advisory committees and executive board and that the organization is “studying the process we use for selecting post-season” refs. While Indigenous people have been on the MHSA board in the past, there are none currently.
Webber supported these ideas but told Michelotti MHSA needs to communicate better with tribal and other small communities.
“If you could put something out and say, ‘Hey, yes we’re doing this’ so communities can read it … that would go a long way,” she said. “I’ve been around for a long time, and I’ve never seen you guys until now, (until) this three-part series.”
Alyssa Kelly, Indigenous justice organizer for the ACLU of Montana, asked Michelotti what MHSA is doing to help people report instances of racism and how it is actively recruiting Native refs.
Michelotti said the organization aims to offer a comprehensive clinic for coaches, administration and officials on discrimination. He said the organization relies on social media campaigns to recruit officials.
“We’ve recruited 106 officials this year,” he said. “The challenge is keeping them. Reffing is not easy. It’s not easy to be out there, and for an individual to get paid $70 to go through that, it’s a challenge.”
Patrick Yawakie, a lobbyist for the Blackfeet Nation, offered solutions for Michelotti.
“We would like to see more transparency,” he said. “We’d also like to see assessments on problematic refs. … (We want to see) more equitable opportunities for refs to make it to state tournaments, and diversity training should be led by tribal refs for all officials within the association.”
This article was first published in the Missoulian.