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Pick a sport. Any sport. There is one constant.
An official's responsibility is to maintain a fair playing field by ensuring rules are properly enforced.
Done well, an official will mostly remain out of the limelight.
Done the John Bloomer Way, an official will set the standard by which all other officials follow.
John Bloomer officiated sports at all levels of play in Kentucky for more than 30 years. He spent hours running the sidelines of football and eyeing the white line of volleyball, but mostly he could be found waiting for the pitch in softball.
Across four decades, he watched athletes go from little girls learning the rules themselves to successful women competing in the College World Series and beyond.
For the athletes, they found a beloved keeper of the game. That's what makes this next sentence so hard. On Feb. 25, in between pitches of a college softball game, Bloomer collapsed behind home plate.
∎∎∎
Each year when the rule books come out, Bloomer became a student of the game again. He studied pages of rules for high school sports in Kentucky, Indiana and college athletics.
His wife Kim could see his excitement. She knew how determined he was to be the best official he could be. If he was going to do it, he was going to do it right. He would know the nuances of every line of any rule.
"If there was a chance his call would be questioned, he wanted to say, 'Look on page 47, #7B. It's right there,'" Kim said. "I'm thinking, 'How on Earth does he know? How can you remember all these changes and what's different?'"
She laughed lightheartedly, "How can you keep up with that when you can't remember our anniversary?"
Bloomer thought the girls, often playing multi-game day tournaments, were tougher than the boys, often playing one game of baseball a day.
"He was just a huge proponent for women’s sports, softball in particular," Kim said.
John loved watching women's sports so much that for a while, Kim wasn't sure their television even worked on any other channel but one with a ballgame.
"He used to just say, 'I've got about five more years left to umpire,'" she said. "Every year, I'd say, 'You tell me every year you have about five more years.' I didn't care. I grew to love the sport."
Over the last 30 days, that TV sat silent, void of ballgames.
On a Wednesday at Campbellsville University, during the top of the second inning, with two strikes and two balls already thrown, Bloomer suffered a heart attack.
Surrounding him on the field and on the sideline that day were nearly 40 softball players from around Kentucky. They watched as the wide-smiling man who called some of their games since third grade slipped away.
He was 70.
∎∎∎
Softball became the Bloomer family sport when John coached his daughter Rebecka in a recreation team in Elizabethtown. She also played for Central Hardin High School.
Once she graduated, though, John decided to stay involved with the sport and become an umpire, along with his son, Josh.
"He'd umpired baseball before," Josh said. "Honestly, I think it was a matter of he could call three softball games before baseball was over and make three times as much money."
John Bloomer also had a goal to call the game at a high level. He became the Kentucky High School Athletic Association Umpire of the Year in 2019 and was named a USA Softball Elite Umpire in 2023.
"All good umpires, they have command of the field," Josh said, who used to coach local high school ball. Josh Bloomer is the former coach of Male High School's program where he went 458-147-4 in seven seasons, winning the National Fastpitch Coaching Association and Kentucky High School Athletic Association in 2019, state runner up in 2015 and 2017 and six regional championships. He also coached at Mercy Academy.
"My dad used to give me grief that he was never able to call the state tournament because I was coaching and they wouldn't let him officiate if my team was there," Josh said.
The success of Josh's teams drew apprehension by some local coaches, Josh said, simplifying the work put in by both Bloomers in their respective roles to this: that the younger Bloomer was wining because the older Bloomer was giving him information about other teams whose games he called.
"Actually, that never happened," Josh said. "I don't trust my dad's eyes better than my own. I'm meticulous enough to go watch and make me my own calls. It was a theory, but a falsehood for sure."
Josh is now the head coach for the Arizona State Sundevils' softball program.
The Bloomer boys did have conversations about the rules though.
"He'd text me and say, 'I heard you got one by so-and-so,'" Josh said with a laugh. "Or I'd say, 'Hey, you need to make sure some of these umpires know this rule. They don't, and they're getting it wrong.'"
Simple texts to try and make the sport better.
After John's death, umpires and coaches alike reached out to Josh telling him about how his dad helped them out; if they had questions about a rule or a call, he'd help. That was just who he was. Even if they didn't like him in the beginning. Even if he came off grumpy.
"He's fair," Josh said. "You didn't always agree with a call, but he was fair and there for the right reason."
Chris Brawner, a softball official whom John Bloomer mentored, is one of a long list of officials who saw in John an endless passion for the game.
"He'd bend over backwards to help anybody," Brawner said. "He's been involved with softball in Kentucky for 40 to 50 years, so he's built up a lot of people that know and respect him."
John served as the president of the Kentuckiana Softball Umpires Association. Multiple umpire associations, coaching associations and schools are already considering ways to honor the bonds Bloomer built through balls and strikes.
Brawner was set to officiate that double-header with Bloomer at Campbellsville in February, but family issues made him unable to call the game.
Instead, he sped to the hospital with Kim. When they got there, Campbellsville University softball coach Shannon Wathen was the first person they saw.
The next day, on its Facebook, Campbellsville University's softball program wrote, in part: "Umpires are often the steady presence behind every pitch, every call, and every inning. They are part of the fabric of our game, giving their time, their focus, and their love for softball so that student-athletes can compete."
∎∎∎
Lisa Pinkerton, a longtime softball coach turned athletic administrator at Assumption, randomly decided last season to grab a picture with Bloomer.
Now, she's adjusting to a season of sunshine, flowers blooming and waiting on a pitch without Bloomer making the call.
"We're not going to see him and that's going to be tough," she said. "This season will be tough.
"An official, if they're doing the job correctly, it's not about them. It's about teams and coaches. And John never made it about himself. He really was the standard of officials in the state."
In a world where others seem determined to tear down, to argue, to make unethical choices or to opt for a win-at-all-costs mentality, those who knew him said John Bloomer represented the best of sports: respecting the game.
His growth of the game of softball stretched beyond making calls around that diamond. He mentored new umpires, especially female ones.
"He felt like it was a girl's sport and it should have more girl umpires," Kim said. "That was a big thing for him."
As Kim stood in the receiving line at his memorial service five days after John watched his last pitch, a female umpire walked up to her and shared this story:
When the woman had been relatively new, she was assigned to a crew with Bloomer. He told her she was behind the plate. She told him she couldn't call the plate because while she had ordered her chest protector, it hadn't arrived in the mail yet.
John walked to his truck and pulled out his old equipment, what looked like a big padded t-shirt. He told her to keep it.
In his memory, the female umpire told Kim, she'll be wearing it this year.
Another official, responsible for maintaining a fair playing field, who will remain mostly out of the limelight, ensuring rules are properly enforced the John Bloomer Way.
Stephanie Kuzydym is an enterprise and investigative sports reporter, with a focus on the health and safety of athletes. Reach her at [email protected] or @stephkuzy.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Longtime KY softball umpire John Bloomer dedicated himself to job
Continue reading...
An official's responsibility is to maintain a fair playing field by ensuring rules are properly enforced.
Done well, an official will mostly remain out of the limelight.
Done the John Bloomer Way, an official will set the standard by which all other officials follow.
John Bloomer officiated sports at all levels of play in Kentucky for more than 30 years. He spent hours running the sidelines of football and eyeing the white line of volleyball, but mostly he could be found waiting for the pitch in softball.
Across four decades, he watched athletes go from little girls learning the rules themselves to successful women competing in the College World Series and beyond.
For the athletes, they found a beloved keeper of the game. That's what makes this next sentence so hard. On Feb. 25, in between pitches of a college softball game, Bloomer collapsed behind home plate.
∎∎∎
Each year when the rule books come out, Bloomer became a student of the game again. He studied pages of rules for high school sports in Kentucky, Indiana and college athletics.
His wife Kim could see his excitement. She knew how determined he was to be the best official he could be. If he was going to do it, he was going to do it right. He would know the nuances of every line of any rule.
"If there was a chance his call would be questioned, he wanted to say, 'Look on page 47, #7B. It's right there,'" Kim said. "I'm thinking, 'How on Earth does he know? How can you remember all these changes and what's different?'"
She laughed lightheartedly, "How can you keep up with that when you can't remember our anniversary?"
Bloomer thought the girls, often playing multi-game day tournaments, were tougher than the boys, often playing one game of baseball a day.
"He was just a huge proponent for women’s sports, softball in particular," Kim said.
John loved watching women's sports so much that for a while, Kim wasn't sure their television even worked on any other channel but one with a ballgame.
"He used to just say, 'I've got about five more years left to umpire,'" she said. "Every year, I'd say, 'You tell me every year you have about five more years.' I didn't care. I grew to love the sport."
Over the last 30 days, that TV sat silent, void of ballgames.
On a Wednesday at Campbellsville University, during the top of the second inning, with two strikes and two balls already thrown, Bloomer suffered a heart attack.
Surrounding him on the field and on the sideline that day were nearly 40 softball players from around Kentucky. They watched as the wide-smiling man who called some of their games since third grade slipped away.
He was 70.
You must be registered for see images attach
∎∎∎
Softball became the Bloomer family sport when John coached his daughter Rebecka in a recreation team in Elizabethtown. She also played for Central Hardin High School.
Once she graduated, though, John decided to stay involved with the sport and become an umpire, along with his son, Josh.
"He'd umpired baseball before," Josh said. "Honestly, I think it was a matter of he could call three softball games before baseball was over and make three times as much money."
John Bloomer also had a goal to call the game at a high level. He became the Kentucky High School Athletic Association Umpire of the Year in 2019 and was named a USA Softball Elite Umpire in 2023.
"All good umpires, they have command of the field," Josh said, who used to coach local high school ball. Josh Bloomer is the former coach of Male High School's program where he went 458-147-4 in seven seasons, winning the National Fastpitch Coaching Association and Kentucky High School Athletic Association in 2019, state runner up in 2015 and 2017 and six regional championships. He also coached at Mercy Academy.
"My dad used to give me grief that he was never able to call the state tournament because I was coaching and they wouldn't let him officiate if my team was there," Josh said.
The success of Josh's teams drew apprehension by some local coaches, Josh said, simplifying the work put in by both Bloomers in their respective roles to this: that the younger Bloomer was wining because the older Bloomer was giving him information about other teams whose games he called.
"Actually, that never happened," Josh said. "I don't trust my dad's eyes better than my own. I'm meticulous enough to go watch and make me my own calls. It was a theory, but a falsehood for sure."
Josh is now the head coach for the Arizona State Sundevils' softball program.
The Bloomer boys did have conversations about the rules though.
"He'd text me and say, 'I heard you got one by so-and-so,'" Josh said with a laugh. "Or I'd say, 'Hey, you need to make sure some of these umpires know this rule. They don't, and they're getting it wrong.'"
Simple texts to try and make the sport better.
You must be registered for see images attach
After John's death, umpires and coaches alike reached out to Josh telling him about how his dad helped them out; if they had questions about a rule or a call, he'd help. That was just who he was. Even if they didn't like him in the beginning. Even if he came off grumpy.
"He's fair," Josh said. "You didn't always agree with a call, but he was fair and there for the right reason."
Chris Brawner, a softball official whom John Bloomer mentored, is one of a long list of officials who saw in John an endless passion for the game.
"He'd bend over backwards to help anybody," Brawner said. "He's been involved with softball in Kentucky for 40 to 50 years, so he's built up a lot of people that know and respect him."
John served as the president of the Kentuckiana Softball Umpires Association. Multiple umpire associations, coaching associations and schools are already considering ways to honor the bonds Bloomer built through balls and strikes.
You must be registered for see images attach
Brawner was set to officiate that double-header with Bloomer at Campbellsville in February, but family issues made him unable to call the game.
Instead, he sped to the hospital with Kim. When they got there, Campbellsville University softball coach Shannon Wathen was the first person they saw.
The next day, on its Facebook, Campbellsville University's softball program wrote, in part: "Umpires are often the steady presence behind every pitch, every call, and every inning. They are part of the fabric of our game, giving their time, their focus, and their love for softball so that student-athletes can compete."
∎∎∎
Lisa Pinkerton, a longtime softball coach turned athletic administrator at Assumption, randomly decided last season to grab a picture with Bloomer.
Now, she's adjusting to a season of sunshine, flowers blooming and waiting on a pitch without Bloomer making the call.
"We're not going to see him and that's going to be tough," she said. "This season will be tough.
"An official, if they're doing the job correctly, it's not about them. It's about teams and coaches. And John never made it about himself. He really was the standard of officials in the state."
In a world where others seem determined to tear down, to argue, to make unethical choices or to opt for a win-at-all-costs mentality, those who knew him said John Bloomer represented the best of sports: respecting the game.
His growth of the game of softball stretched beyond making calls around that diamond. He mentored new umpires, especially female ones.
"He felt like it was a girl's sport and it should have more girl umpires," Kim said. "That was a big thing for him."
As Kim stood in the receiving line at his memorial service five days after John watched his last pitch, a female umpire walked up to her and shared this story:
When the woman had been relatively new, she was assigned to a crew with Bloomer. He told her she was behind the plate. She told him she couldn't call the plate because while she had ordered her chest protector, it hadn't arrived in the mail yet.
John walked to his truck and pulled out his old equipment, what looked like a big padded t-shirt. He told her to keep it.
In his memory, the female umpire told Kim, she'll be wearing it this year.
Another official, responsible for maintaining a fair playing field, who will remain mostly out of the limelight, ensuring rules are properly enforced the John Bloomer Way.
Stephanie Kuzydym is an enterprise and investigative sports reporter, with a focus on the health and safety of athletes. Reach her at [email protected] or @stephkuzy.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Longtime KY softball umpire John Bloomer dedicated himself to job
Continue reading...
