Longtime high school sports official dies at 77

May 23—A man who spend the majority of his life officiating high school sports in northern Michigan died recently.

Terry Wakeley of Grayling passed away May 9 at the age of 77, following a battle with cancer.

He officiated football, basketball and baseball for 56 years.

Wakeley co-founded the North Central Officials Association with Butch Brown in 1987 and served as its president for several years.

To officiate in Michigan, you have to be a member in good standing with an officials association and attend several meetings. Until the NCOA came around, the largest association resided in Petoskey. For officials in Grayling, Gaylord, Roscommon and Mio, that was quite a haul.

"Terry was the impetus for a lot of what we've done," said Bill Root, the current president of the North Central Officials Association.

Wakeley officiated across most of the Traverse City area and into the Upper Peninsula and officiated two state championship football games, one state final basketball game, 16 state semifinals and many regional and district games in all three sports. Semifinal and final assignments typically only go to highly rated officials.

Recently, Wakeley spent most of his time officiating in Mio.

Other areas were Grayling, Roscommon and Houghton Lake.

"I worked with him, I learned from him, he was a mentor to me," Root said. "He never took himself too seriously and he tried to bring a little humor to it because of the many times when things could get a little tense with coaches and sideline people."

Whenever a coach would cross the line, Root said Wakeley understood the importance of keeping things under control.

An example of that: Whenever Wakeley would cross paths with Beaverton coach Roy Johnson, who set the state record for most wins by a coach this past season, but is also known in officiating circles to be a very formidable coach to officiate with.

"Even though Roy is very animated, and he gets carried away at times, officials were in fear of him and didn't want to give him a technical foul," Root said. "And yet, Terry was one of those officials that if you cross the line, you're going to pay the price."

Ironically, even after picking up a technical foul from Wakeley, Johnson was the coach to nominate Wakeley to be inducted into the Michigan Basketball Coaches Association (BCAM) Hall of Honor. Wakeley was inducted in 2001.

He was the recipient of the Michigan High School Athletic Association's Vern Norris Award, which recognizes an athletic official with 20 or more years of registration with the MHSAA and works at the high school level.

Root said Wakeley was well known wherever he officiated. He said Wakeley combined his love for sports and people together and people respected what he did.

"They would say, 'Hey, Terry, are you still officiating? And when are you going to quit?'" Root said. "And his response was always 'When I get it right.'"

John Schneider, the former baseball coach at Gaylord and an ex-president of the North Central Officials Association, worked with Wakeley for 17 years until his retirement from officiating.

"Another official he worked with, Dave Latusek, told me he was asked one time at a meeting, 'Terry what was the most important game you ever officiated?' Terry replied, 'They all are important to the athletes participating,'" Schneider said.

Schneider said Wakeley always had a large strike zone and told the players "they better be hitters."

"He would always encourage the boys when they were playing," Schneider said. "If they did something wrong he said, 'Hey, it is not the end of the world. Move on. You're alright.'"

Wakeley is survived by his wife Caroll of 34 years; children Terry "Scott" (Michelle) Wakeley of Grayling, Kelly Robert (Jonell) Wakeley of Florida, Michael (Jana) Modica of Kingsley, Hilary Modica of Grayling, and Samuel (Keenan) Modica of Kewadin.

A Celebration of Terry's life will be held at a later date.

For those that wish to remember Terry through memorial contribution, the family has asked to consider the North Central Officials Association, c/o Dave Latusek, 6669 Nottingham Dr., Grayling, MI 49738 where the Terry Wakeley Memorial Scholarship Fund has been established.

Follow Andrew Rosenthal on Twitter @ByAndrewR