Article by Jami Cooper
Clarksburg lawyer Steve Gandee, a Member and Assistant Executive Officer at Robinson & McElwee, PLLC, was a standout football, basketball, and baseball player for Herbert Hoover High School, and played both football and baseball at Glenville State. He earned Hall of Fame status at both institutions for his significant athletic contributions. While most college athletes’ careers end at graduation, Steve’s was only just beginning. After college, Steve began what would become a decades-long contribution to basketball in West Virginia, merging his interest in the sport, a seemingly genetic propensity for officiating, and a lawyerly appreciation for rules.
The officiating apple did not fall far from the tree. Steve has attended every West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (“WVIAC”) championship game and every West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission (“WVSSAC”) championship game since 1968, usually alongside his father. His father, Henry “Bob” Gandee, was a respected basketball official and coach. Steve remembers his father being selected to referee a 1985 state tournament. “It was a big deal,” Steve says with a sense of pride. It was an experience that Steve would also get to have – many times over.
Steve started his refereeing career calling high school games in 1985 for the WVSSAC and then college games in the West Virginia Conference, predecessor to the WVIAC, beginning in 1993. In that time, Steve has officiated more than 1700 varsity high school and college basketball games, including ten boys’ state championship finals and one girls’ state championship final.
One of Steve’s most memorable moments as an official came during a WVSSAC semi-final game. It was the first game of three that Friday night, and Capital was playing Woodrow Wilson. The game went into double overtime and, by the time the final buzzer rang, there were nearly 14,500 fans in the crowd. He does not recall who won that game, but Steve recalls the tremendous energy that penetrated the venue. He calls it the best overall game that he’s ever officiated. A close second is a similarly energizing WVAIC championship game that he officiated where West Liberty, then ranked first in the country, played University of Charleston, a game that also went into overtime. “That was some really good basketball,” Steve recalls.
When asked about other memorable moments, Steve commented that it is the venues and community support, more than the games themselves, that stand out. Steve has officiated all over the State, in some of the best basketball venues, and has called at least one of nearly all of the rivalry games in the State – including Bridgeport vs. RCB, Fairmont Sr. vs. East Fairmont, and Morgantown vs. University – big games in his neck of the woods. “The rivalry games are exciting. The intensity and the energy of those games – fueled by the crowds – produce some great basketball.”
Though Steve remains a registered official, he spends his time now on the administrative side of the game. Putting his lawyer-brain to work, Steve now serves as a WVSSAC statewide rules clinician, a position that he shares with another seasoned official and friend, Dave Bowles. Steve and Dave took over the position previously held by Beckley lawyer Pat Fragale following Pat’s unexpected passing about a year ago. As a rules clinician, Steve has responsibility for conducting officiating clinics, addressing disqualification appeals from technical or flagrant foul situations, and assigning officials for regional and state tournament games. It is important to have highly qualified and experienced officials at the regional and state tournament games, and Steve is well-prepared to make those selections. “There are now about 850 registered basketball officials in West Virginia – where in the recent past there were 1100-1200 – and about 250 of them apply to work the regional and state tournaments. Of those 250 that apply, there are only about 3-4 that I don’t know,” Steve notes. He knows most of them well. Steve attends about 40 regular-season high school games a year, observing the assigned officials in order to assess their skill levels and provide constructive feedback (and also because he still enjoys watching the games).
As part of his work as rules clinician for the WVSSAC, Steve also represents the State of West Virginia, serving as one of 50 voting members, on the National Federation of State High School Associations (“National Federation”), the body charged with making rule change recommendations to its member athletic associations. In that capacity, Steve has a vote on what rule changes the National Federation adopts. “The rule changes trickle down from the NBA to the NCAA and, ultimately into the high schools.” One big rule change that the National Federation is pushing states to adopt is the shot clock for high school – certainly a heavily discussed rule change among West Virginia high school administrators, coaches, athletes, and fans, which only 26 states have adopted so far (West Virginia not being one of them).
As if his responsibilities as a state-wide rules’ clinician is not enough, Steve also assigns high school officials for Big Ten Conference regular season games and does legal work for the WVSSAC. His scheduling obligations have him filling 1800 officiating slots for games played within the Big Ten Conference, and local sectional games, each season.
West Virginia has had its share of great basketball officials, and Steve talked about some of them, obviously proud of the national legacy that West Virginia is leaving on his much-loved pastime (or, as some would describe, his second job). Princeton native Mike Eades started his officiating career in 1992 with the WVIAC. He is now the coordinator of men’s basketball officials for the Southeastern Conference (“SEC). Teddy Valentine – known for giving Bobby Knight three technical fouls in a single game (among other controversial circumstances) — also has a West Virginia connection, having been born in Moundsville. He attended Glenville State and, like Steve, played college baseball. Over the course of his career, Valentine officiated 26 consecutive NCAA men’s basketball tournaments and ten men’s “Final Fours.” One of those was Duke’s win over Butler in 2010, which Steve watched Teddy officiate. Steve recalls a time when Valentine was not a famous referee, but rather a college teammate and a young referee with whom Steve worked several games in the middle schools of Gilmer County in their early years as basketball officials. Kevin Pethel, a native of Fairmont, is an NCAA women’s basketball official and was selected to referee the 2022 NCAA women’s Final Four and the 2023 Women’s NIT. Last – but certainly not least – Morgantown native Bill Titus also worked in the NCAA women’s Final Four and was a mainstay in big, televised women’s’ games for years.
Offering further support that the love of officiating may be a genetic quality, Steve’s daughter, Stephenee, has followed in his footsteps – as both a lawyer and an official. Stephenee Gandee is an associate at Steptoe & Johnson, PLLC in Bridgeport, and is a former WVSSAC registered basketball and current WVSSAC registered volleyball official. “Whether he is serving as an official on the court or an observer in the stands, he has spent hundreds of hours in gyms all across the State. As a young lawyer, I now have even more of an appreciation for time management as it relates to work and activities outside of work. Seeing how he has been able to devote his time to his roles as an attorney and as an official has provided me with the best role model,” Stephenee offered as an obviously proud daughter. Stephenee and Steve both noted the hours that Steve dedicated to officiating. “Tip-off would not be until 7:30. I’d often stay at the office until I had to leave for the games, rather than leaving when my colleagues did to go home. My wife, Tammy, and my children (Stephenee and his son Andrew) sacrificed a lot so that I could do this work, and I appreciate – so much – the support they provided.”
While Steve does have a passion for basketball officiating, it is not something that pays the bills. “If I billed all of the hours that I have spent doing the volunteer work as a basketball official and rules clinician, I would have been able to retire a long time ago,” Steve laughed. “But, I love doing it. It keeps me connected to the game that I’ve enjoyed my entire life, and it provided a great stress reliever when, at 7:30, the ball was tipped and all other thoughts from the days’ work went away – at least for the next few hours.”
Steve was nominated for More than a Lawyer by Bridgeport lawyer Dan Cooper.
Jami Cooper is a litigation lawyer with Cooper Law Offices, PLLC, in Bridgeport. Jami serves as a member of the State Bar’s Board of Governors and Co-chair of the Women in the Profession Committee. Jami also serves as Secretary of the National Conference of Women’s Bar Associations.
