Sneakers slide and squeak on the gymnasium floor as Pat Mercier runs up and down the court, whistle in his mouth and ready to make the call. It’s familiar territory for Mr. Mercier who has been refereeing basketball games on the Vineyard and beyond for nearly 40 years.
By his own count, he has logged more than 5,000 games in his career as the go-to man in pinstripes.
The first time Mr. Mercier stepped onto the hardwood as a ref was while attending Assumption College, looking to make some extra cash. His first experience reffing on the Island began in the winter of 1985, going from fan to whistleblower in an instant.
“I was just sitting in the stands one night watching the game and one of the refs stormed out,” Mr. Mercier recalled. “So Corly Maciel came over and said, ‘Hey Pat, could you ref the game?’”
The rest is history. At one point, Mr. Mercier said he was calling more than 200 games a season.
Mr. Mercier grew up in Edgartown and played basketball throughout his childhood. In high school, he played during an era when Vineyard basketball teams were regularly ranked highly at the state level.
After his impromptu start as a referee, Mr. Mercier decided to become a true student of the game, taking classes in Barnstable to become officially certified.
“They see how you move on the court, whether you can go from your head to eyes to the mouth with the whistle quick enough,” he said of the instruction.
But the real classroom is on the court where repetition and experience are the best teacher, he said. Plus, each type of game — girls or boys, young or very young — require different skills for the ref.
“That’s why I immersed myself in it,” he said. “I was learning everything because men’s leagues teach you a certain thing and junior high girl’s games teach you another certain thing.”
Refereeing is about viewing the action through an advantage and disadvantage mindset, according to Mr. Mercier.
“You look at the play, is there an advantage gained or is somebody put at a disadvantage and that’s when you blow the whistle,” he said. “If everything seems equal, keep playing. Try to get a rhythm to the game. You have to kind of figure out how the kids are playing and you adjust to them and see how things are going.”
While getting flak from coaches, players and fans is part of the job, Mr. Mercier said he has learned how to keep a calm head on the court.
“Fans watch the game with their hearts, refs watch the game with their heads,” he said. “You’ll never be able to take emotion out of sports. It will always be there. You have to understand, as a ref, when they are yelling at me, they are yelling at my uniform. They are not yelling at me as a person.”
Part of the joy, he said, is the community on and off the court.
“The best part of reffing is the social part of it and meeting other refs,” he said. “After games, we’d have a couple beers and talk about the games that we had and the unusual plays. That’s where I really learned a lot about reffing, just listening to these veterans tell you how they handled a particular instance.”
He once thought about coaching at the college level but decided it would require too much time away from his family. Plus, he had his career owning and operating Vineyard Tile which kept him busy.
Out of all the games Mr. Mercier has refereed, the Harwich versus Nauset games stay in his memory due to the intensity of the Cape Cod rivalry. Another memorable moment was reffing the girls’ state tournament at Massasoit Community College in 1996.
“The girl on the baseline, she threw the ball behind her back and up and into the basket,” he recalled. ”It was really incredible to watch that.”
From player, to fan, to referee, the journey has been one Mr. Mercier cherishes.
“The games are the games, but the other stuff is more important, like meeting people and having fun and gaining experiences in life,” he said. “It’s just been a good ride and a lot of fun and no regrets.”
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