Sometimes the biggest components of the NBA are not wearing jerseys and expensive shoes. Sometimes they wear the black and white stripes. Today the official NBA referee Twitter account announced that longtime ref Danny Crawford would be retiring. He spent 32 years as an NBA referee and officiated 23 consecutive NBA Finals.
Dan Crawford, one of the most accomplished referees in NBA history, is retiring.
Congrats to Danny on an incredible career! pic.twitter.com/yZYgPWof0m
— NBA Referees (@OfficialNBARefs) August 2, 2017
Crawford, 63, spoke with USA Today Sports about his decision to leave the NBA.
I left with gas in my tank. Could I have gone two more years? Yeah, I could’ve. But I looked at how many years I gave them and said, ‘When do you stop?’ You keep working this job and you can’t physically do it anymore. I didn’t want that. I wanted to leave with my gas in my tank and I wanted to leave in a positive way.”
Crawford will go down as one of the more decorated and accomplished referees of all time. He officiated over 2,000 games including 300 playoff games. He was well-liked by players and coaches, which is no easy feat for any referee in any sport. “I think I could relate to where the players and coaches were coming from because I played basketball,” Crawford says to USA Today Sports. “I had an awareness of the emotional state that the players and coaches were in. They had their pressures just like we had our pressures.”
Enjoy retirement, Mr. Crawford.
