AAC Welcomes Cradic into Hall of Fame

Cradic, 86, is wrapping up six decades of service as the assignor of referees at this year's tournament. He has been a member of the TSSAA Hall of Fame for nearly a quarter-century for his work with the high schools.

The longtime Hawkins County resident has worked in football, basketball, and baseball everywhere from the high schools to the NCAA Division I level. He has been a TSSAA Supervisor for the last 30 years. His work in 1970 with women's basketball began in the old AIWA, which predated the NCAA and NAIA tournaments. It was a time when there were only three teams in the state of Tennessee.

That did not include the powerhouse Lady Vols program, although he had great memories of later officiating games with Coach Pat Summitt.

"She'd get in your ear, I'd say," Cradic said. "She was trying to get this girl from Daniel Boone to play for her so she came up here and played an exhibition."

Between 1996 and 1998, Cradic served as the TSSAA Supervisor for both the Tri-Cities Basketball Officials' Association and the Region One Football Officials' Association. He has been Supervisor and Assigning Officer for these associations since 1998.

A former Golden Gloves participant, he has also officiated amateur and professional boxing. He's had verbal confrontations with both coaches and his fellow officials, but those temporary disagreements were nothing to the friendships he built in sports.

Dozens of past and present officials showed up Tuesday to help celebrate Cradic's special hone.

"They've been loyal to me all these years," Cradic said. "We've all gotten along great. They've all been in my doghouse a time or two, but we get the chatter over with and go eat somewhere. We don't hold on (to grudges). We just go to the next game and move on."

He remembered the old days of officiating college basketball and the long road trips required. He did this while working a regular job at the AFG glass plant in Hawkins County.

"I think we got about $35 a game. I spent many a night going back and forth to work," Cradic said. "We'd sleep 3-4 hours and then be back at work in the morning, still alive."

It wasn't just basketball season. There were times he would leave on a Saturday morning to work a basketball game, follow up with a baseball game and end with a boxing match. There have been numerous high-level athletes and coaches in the games he's officiated.

He recalled one game which a future two-time NBA champion with the Lakers and later an NBA head coach with the Kings played in.

"I was fortunate to work some of the AAU tournaments in the summer," Cradic said. "Back in the day I remember (Bill) Walton when his boy, Luke, was 15 years old. Bill couldn't do a thing with him. I guess Luke learned a lot later. I saw a lot of those guys who advanced through the years to make it in the pros."

For more on the AAC Hall of Fame, click here.