Sidelight: Brian Ricca

When Brian Ricca was an undergraduate in college, he started officiating high school basketball games. It was a way to stay involved with the sport after failing to make his high school’s varsity team. Though he’s spent the past decade as a superintendent — since 2019 in Saint Johnsbury, Vt. — Ricca, 47, has continued to accept refereeing assignments for boys’ and girls’ junior varsity and freshman basketball (never involving his own district). He typically handles two to three evening basketball games a week in winter, saying he enjoys the camaraderie. Ricca, a 10-year AASA member, tries to apply the same principles whether running on the hardwood or managing a board meeting, saying “I like to be a leader and an official who tells the truth with compassion.”