By Shawn Nowlin
The National Basketball Association (NBA) has been around for 79 years. In that time, approximately 5,000 players have suited up for at least one-regular season game. Equally important to the athletes who sell the tickets are the officials, individuals tasked with enforcing the rules and maintaining order in the game.
Not many referees have surpassed the 1,000-game mark. One of those individuals is Roanoke native Curtis Blair.
Born in 1970, Blair graduated from Patrick Henry High School in 1988.
George Lynch, a UNC Tar Heel legend who played in the NBA for 12 years, was a high school teammate of Blair. The two led the Patriots to the Virginia Group AAA Championship as seniors.
The former Philadelphia 76er has spoken highly of Blair over the years. “Curtis is one of my all-time favorite teammates. He brought the best out of me,” Lynch once said in an interview.
The 6’3-and-185-point guard played collegiately at the University of Richmond. Over the course of his career, he earned two first-team all-Colonial Athletic Association selections. As a senior, he was named the conference player of the year.
Blair’s team made history in the 1991 NCAA Tournament. In the first round against the heavily favored Syracuse Orange, led by Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim, he had team highs of 18 points, six assists and three steals. That effort cemented Richmond as the first No. 15 seed to defeat a No. 2 seed in the tournament.
More than just a standout athlete, Blair earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.
While he was selected by Houston in the second round of the 1992 NBA Draft with the 53rd pick, Blair never played in a game for the Rockets. Even though his NBA dreams never materialized, he did play professionally in Australia and Turkey.
Blair, now in his 18th year, made his NBA referee debut in 2008. Prior to that, he officiated various NCAA conferences, including the ACC and Atlantic 10.
The professional life of an NBA referee is not necessarily what one would expect. A mandatory meeting is held each morning to go over game strategy, mechanics and rules. There are 82 regular-season games. When crews arrive at the arena hours before tip-off, they test whistles, select game balls with feedback from team representatives and verify player availability, among other things.
On the challenges that come with the role, Blair has publicly stated, “When fans think of referees, they see the calls. But what they don’t see are the friendships, the focus and the unseen hours that make it all possible.”
Over his lengthy career, Blair has officiated more than 1,000 regular-season games and 50 playoff matchups. When the NBA All-Star Game came to Charlotte, N.C., in 2019, Blair got to ref the contest.
When the NBA Finals take place in June, there is a chance that Blair will be tasked with one of the hardest jobs in sports.
