Joey Crawford
From Hoopedia
Joseph "Joey" Crawford (born August 30, 1951 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a professional basketball referee in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and wears the uniform number 17. Crawford is considered one of the premier officials in the NBA and has developed a reputation for assessing technical fouls against players and coaches. His father, Shag Crawford, was a Major League Baseball umpire in the National League from 1956 to 1975 and his brother, Jerry, is a current major league umpire.
Early Years
Crawford began his NBA career in 1977 at the age of 25. Prior basketball officiating experience included eight years of Pennsylvania high school from 1970 to 1977 and also the Eastern Basketball Association (later the Continental Basketball Association or CBA) in 1974 and 1977. Outside of officiating games, he also worked as a United States Postal Service mail carrier from 1972 to 1975.
Milestones
As of the 2006-07 NBA season, Crawford has worked more playoff (266) and NBA Finals games (38) than any other active referee in the league and has appeared in the Finals every year since 1986. Crawford is currently serving a suspension and will not appear in the 2007 NBA Playoffs, ending his 21 consecutive Finals appearances. In addition to playoff games, Crawford has officiated the NBA All-Star Game in 1986, 1992 and 2000, as well as the 1993 McDonald's Championship in Munich, Germany.
Crawford officiated in his 2,000th NBA game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers on November 11, 2005. He was the fifth NBA referee in history to reach such a milestone, joining Jake O'Donnell, Dick Bavetta, Earl Strom, and Tommy Nunez.
Controversy
In 1998, Crawford was one of 10 NBA referees charged with filing false income tax returns. An Internal Revenue Service investigation was the result of cash being pocketed by referees when airline tickets provided by the league were downgraded. At the conclusion of a four year investigation, Crawford pleaded guilty on July 1, 1998 for falsely stating income of $82,500 from 1991 to 1993 and resigned from the NBA effective immediately. He would be reinstated by NBA commissioner David Stern in 1999 and did not miss a game due to a players' lockout to start the 1998-99 NBA season.
During Game 2 of the Western Conference finals of the 2003 NBA playoffs, Crawford assessed four technical fouls in the first 10 minutes, 11 seconds of the game, including two technical fouls and an ejection of Don Nelson, then head coach of the Dallas Mavericks, for not returning to his team's bench after disputing a foul called against his team. Later in the game, he ejected Nelson's assistant coach, Del Harris.
On April 15, 2007, Crawford ejected San Antonio Spurs superstar Tim Duncan for supposedly laughing at Crawford from his seat on the bench during a game against the Dallas Mavericks. Duncan alleges that Crawford challenged him to a fight on the court in which Crawford asked Duncan, "Do you want to fight?" On April 17, Crawford was suspended for the remainder of the 2006-07 NBA season and the 2007 NBA playoffs as a result of this altercation. Commissioner David Stern said Crawford's actions "failed to meet the standards of professionalism and game management we expect of NBA referees."
Crawford currently resides in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. He is married and has three children.
