Mendy Rudolph

From Hoopedia

Marvin "Mendy" Rudolph was born to a Jewish family in Philadelphia on March 8, 1926. He died July 4, 1979. He was one of the best-known basketball referees of his day. The quality of Rudolph's work is the standard by which NBA refs are measured.

He was the son of Harry Rudolph a prominent basketball referee and baseball umpire in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

Rudolph's uniform number--five--has not been worn by any other NBA official since his passing in 1979. During the 1979-80 season, however, officials wore a patch with the number "5" on their uniform sleeves, in memory of his passing. Rudolph served as an NBA ref for 25 years, from 1953 to 1978, just a year before his death. He was the first NBA floor official to work over 2,000 career games. He reffed his 2,000th game in February 1975.

Rudolph's career started in the old Eastern League, where he refereed games with his father. In 1953, he was recommended by Eddie Gottlieb, coach and owner of the NBA's Philadelphia Warriors, to NBA commissioner Maurice Podoloff.

In 1976, Rudolph worked as a television announcer for CBS Sports covering the NBA Finals.

Rudolph was known to be a heavy gambler. As recounted by his wife, Susan, in a 1992 interview as to why he refused to accept an offer of a Las Vegas gambler to waive all his gambling debts by shaving points in a game, Mendy's thought was that "It goes against all my principles. I love the game too much, respect it too much. I couldn't do it to you. I couldn't do it to the memory of my father, and I couldn't do it to myself. If I have to go into bankruptcy, something I'd hate to do, I'd do it."

Charisma, charm and personality describe the way he conducted his work. He symbolized NBA officiating to many fans during the 1960s and 1970s and was a pioneer in his profession. He was a good friend of fellow referee Earl Strom, who later became an advocate for Rudolph's posthumous enshrinment in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachuesetts. Rudolph was inducted on April 2, 2007 one of only seven members of the 2007 class.