Brunswick Hills resident John Kipp to be inducted into OHSAA Officials Hall of Fame

John Kipp has made plenty of big calls in his 38 years as a high school soccer referee, but the Brunswick Hills Township resident wasn't quite prepared for a call he received earlier this year informing him that he would be inducted into the Ohio High School Athletic Association Officials Hall of Fame. "Your throat almost sinks into your body," Kipp said. "It's like, 'Oh, my God.' I took a big gulp, and I'm like, 'You gotta be kidding me.' I almost fainted." Kipp, along with 13 others, will be formally inducted Saturday at the Hilton Columbus/Polaris in Columbus. Twenty-one OHSAA Official of the Year recipients, including football official Michael Dame of Brunswick, also will be honored. While he is nearing the end of his career, the 78-year-old Kipp is still called upon to referee high-leverage matches, including a Division V regional final in November between Ottawa Hills and Maumee Valley Country Day, a rematch of a game from the regular season in which Country Day won 7-1. "I'm going into this game seeing a 7-1 regular season, so I'm going into the game thinking this will be easy, 1-2-3 and I'm out of here," Kipp said. That wasn't the case, as the game ended in a 3-2 Ottawa Hills victory that Kipp called one of the best contests he has seen. "Even the announcers on the game said it was the most fantastic game they've ever seen in their life," Kipp said. "It was back and forth, and one of the kids from Maumee scored on a bicycle kick goal, which you almost never see in high school, which was fantastic." Even in the excitement of the game, Kipp was able to do his job when needed while also trying not to have an influence on the outcome. "There were a couple calls that had to be made," he said. "I had a couple of penalty kicks I had to call because kids got loose in the penalty area and the keeper took them out. I have to make this call. I can't ignore it." Over his career, Kipp, who has been the referee for nine state championship games, has learned the most important part is making sure the game in front of him is taking center stage. "You enjoy games where the beauty of the game is what really is important, and we just kind of take a secondary role," he said. "You try not to influence the outcome of the match. You don't want to be the guy that you know is overly officious or playing gotcha. I don't do any of that. I don't need to interfere, and that's kind of the way it is." Kipp will become the first referee in the Greater Cleveland Soccer Association's more than 50 years of existence to be inducted into the OHSAA Officials Hall of Fame. His hope for the future is that he isn't the last and that more people will get involved. "We are down in numbers now," he said. "We've probably lost over 100 officials with COVID and age, and I'm getting to the end of my career as well. We probably only have about 210 officials in Greater Cleveland." His parting words of wisdom for any new referee are quite simple. "As officials, we try never to make a mistake but that's impossible," Kipp said. "You're going to make mistakes. What you have to do is learn from them." Contact Ryan Isley at sports@medina-gazette.com.