Basketball ref Fahringer overcomes obstacles to get back into the game

ROXBOROUGH – Bill Fahringer knows and appreciates the smell of a gymnasium like a wine connoisseur appreciates the bouquet of a fine chardonnay.
He’s a hoops junkie who never gets enough of the cacophony of a crossover dribble or the soft swish of a baseline jumper.
Always has, always will.

It’s why he went to Roman Catholic as a young man, because, as he puts it, “Every basketball player in Roxborough wants the chance to play for Speedy,” referring, of course, to Roman Catholic High basketball coaching legend “Speedy” Morris.
But there are dreams and there are realities, and Fahringer’s reality was a move to Roxborough High after just one year at Roman, marriage and a child within a year following his 1978 high school graduation and the need for a steady buck.
It soon came to Fahringer’s attention that he could make a decent extra dollar or two officiating basketball games.
Back in those days, a hustler could make steady extra income blowing his whistle at a summer rec league game or a CYO tilt, so the hoops junkie made himself available to any gym that needed a guy in a striped shirt.
He got in, and never considered getting out.
Flash forward to a day in 2006 when Fahringer began having trouble with his knee. It was diagnosed as a torn meniscus. But it turned out to be the beginning of what Fahringer still refers to as “three years of hell.”
The knee never responded after surgery. In fact, it got progressively worse. From that day forward, Fahringer would undergo 13 procedures to try and get his knee back to some semblance of normalcy,
In between, there was a ruptured bursa sac, three knee replacements and a patellaectomy. And that wasn’t all.
He had ligaments removed from the kneecap; his leg was fused twice. And his frustration level was beyond that of what would be thought of as reasonable.
“I’d hit a wall,” Fahringer said. “So when they said, ‘Let’s amputate,’ I said, ‘Fine.’”
With his leg gone, Fahringer fed his basketball jones by mentoring young, prospective officials.
But his personal goal never wavered.
“I had a mission,” he said. “I was going to come back and referee.
“I got my new (prosthetic) leg in January of 2010. I was refereeing six months later.”
Tom Brady is a basketball officials assigner and the District One representative for men’s basketball officials. He is responsible for finding work for referees like Fahringer.
He’s known Fahringer for years, and he knew the ordeal Fahringer went through following his leg problems.
Initially, when Fahringer started on the comeback trail, Brady considered the circumstances and allowed his friend to officiate, but not at the high school level.
“At first, I wasn’t sure what kind of shape Bill was in,” Brady said. “I knew he’d had a lot of downs. He was down with his leg problems for a long time. It seemed like every time he got some good news, infections or something would pop up. And he just seemed to be getting worse and worse.
“So I wanted to bring him back into it slowly.”
That meant a lot of CYO and junior high games at first.
Then, in time, slowly but surely, the man with the intense passion for the game was back doing what he loved, albeit with a more determined posture.
“Once I got back, I sat and watched videos to see how I could better do the job,” Fahringer said. “I had to remember that once I stood up, that my leg was under me.”
And soon the man who loved walking into gymnasiums was back to regularly walking in and doing the job he loved.
“I missed a few beats,” he said, “but I’m OK with it.
“I enjoy being in the gym. Over the years you make a lot of friends, with other officials and with players and coaches. And I had missed that.”
Now retired from his day job and back to officiating full time, Fahringer has a smile and, perhaps, an even greater appreciation for what he had missed during his long ordeal.
“These days, I see people and they come over to me and tell me they remember me,” Fahringer said. “Only now, I’m officiating their kids.”
Then, after a long exhale, Fahringer was able to put it all in perspective.
“And,” he said, “I’ve never lost my love for the game.”