By John Millea
DULUTH – A few days before Christmas, three wise men made history on the basketball court at Duluth Denfeld High School. They brought gifts of wisdom, experience and gratitude, based on their combined 154 years as basketball officials.
Jim Erzar was the most veteran of the veteran group, now working high school basketball games for a 54th season. Steve Olson and Jerry Ujdur are both in their 50th years behind the whistle.
At this Lake Superior Conference girls game between Hermantown and Denfeld, the trio might have brought the highest number of officiating years ever seen on a basketball court. They are all sons of the north: Erzar grew up in Ely, Olson is a lifelong resident of Superior, Wisconsin, and Ujdur is a Hermantown native.
The game at Denfeld marked the first time the three had worked together on a basketball court. They have known each other for years and each of them has officiated with the other two, but never as a threesome. Knowing that all had reached 50 years, officials with the Lake Superior Basketball Association teamed them up for one special, celebratory night.
“I believe in the adage that you should be able to work with anybody anywhere at any time,” Olson said. “That trust you have in your team is important. And knowing those two guys, that sure made it fun.”
All were involved in sports from a young age. Ujdur reached the highest level of baseball, going from Hermantown to an All-Big Ten career at the University of Minnesota and pitching for the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians from 1980 until 1984.
Ujdur is 68 years old, Olson is 70 and Erzar is 74. They all started officiating early, including youth baseball in their teenage years. Like other basketball players in Ely, Erzar helped coach and officiate elementary basketball on Saturdays. While a first-year student at Vermilion Community College in Ely (and later at St. Cloud State), Erzar began working JV basketball games. As a 19-year-old sophomore he became certified to officiate varsity contests.
He isn’t certain how many games he has worked over more than half a century. His best guess – based on around 100 games a year for more than 50 years -- is somewhere in the neighborhood of 5,000.
Erzar is a Hall of Fame baseball coach – and longtime baseball umpire – who coached baseball at Deer River High School for 42 years, retiring after the 2017 season. His wife, Connie Boyum-Erzar, retired in 2016 after coaching Deer River volleyball for 35 years. Their son Tyler, who lives in Duluth, is in his 15th year as a basketball official and their son Matt coaches baseball at Century College in White Bear Lake.
“I think after I got done playing, it was to be competitive and get some exercise,” Erzar said of officiating. “Exercise might be the No. 1 thing for me now. Before every season I wonder if I can still get up and down the court. I feel pretty good.”
After graduating from Superior High School, Olson was an all-conference baseball player at the University of Wisconsin-Superior. At the Superior School District, he was a teacher, coach and administrator for decades. He was the head baseball from 1988 to 1995 and the athletic/activities director from 1991 to 2004, also serving dean of students and assistant principal.
Olson started umpiring youth baseball when he was 15. He became a varsity umpire in 1974 and soon became a basketball official, even though “I played basketball through ninth grade. I was vertically challenged and couldn’t shoot worth a darn, either.”
Olson and Ujdur worked their first varsity basketball game together in Aitkin, Minnesota in 1974.
There are 72 people named Olson registered as officials with the MSHSL (along with 143 Johnsons). But there is only one Ujdur.
But it was another Ujdur, Jerry’s older brother Greg, who got him into officiating shortly after he graduated from high school. Greg, six years older, told Jerry that it was a great hobby.
“We’re all spring chickens,” Ujdur said with a smile. “The camaraderie of being with a group of guys, it’s a good family. And it’s good for your health to stay active.”
Fans don’t hound officials for autographs, but a quick online search showed that a baseball signed by Ujdur can be purchased on eBay for $25.
Jerry pitched against Rickey Henderson, the all-time leader in stolen bases who died the day after the trio of officials worked at Denfeld. Ujdur tells the story of a game in Oakland in August 1982, when Henderson needed two stolen bases to break Lou Brock’s single-season record of 118.
Ujdur walked Mickey Stanley to open the bottom of the eighth inning, bringing Henderson to the plate. Jerry said A’s manager Billy Martin was mad at him, thinking he had walked Stanley on purpose so if Henderson got on, the base ahead of him would be occupied.
Stanley drifted off second base and Ujdur threw to shortstop Alan Trammell and picked Stanley off. Henderson remained on first base, still hoping to steal two bases. Now Detroit manager Sparky Anderson was livid, thinking the A’s had directed Stanley to intentionally get picked off so Rickey could run free.
A few pitches later Henderson took off. Ujdur threw to catcher Bill Fahey, who quickly got the ball to Trammell at second base. Henderson was out, but he got the record on another day and finished that season with 130 steals, a record that still stands.
“He got the record,” Ujdur said, “but he didn’t get it off me.”
Just another great memory for three men who have been giving back for a long time.
-- MSHSL senior content creator John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Threads at johnmilleamn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org or john.millea@ymail.com
Editor's Note: Journal originally published at MSHSL.com. Republished with permission.
