Jake O'Donnell

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Jake O'Donnell, NBA referee

James Michael "Jake" O'Donnell (born January 25, 1939 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a former sports official who worked as a National Basketball Association (NBA) referee for 28 seasons from 1967 to 1995, and also as an umpire in Major League Baseball for four seasons from 1968 to 1971. He is the only person to officiate All-Star games in both the major leagues and the NBA.

As a referee, O'Donnell officiated in 2,134 NBA games (a record held until February 2006 that was broken by Dick Bavetta), 279 playoff games, and the NBA Finals in 23 of his 28 seasons, which consisted of 39 games. In the NBA, he wore the uniform number 36 at the start of his career, then switched to number 11 at the start of the 1969-70 NBA season. O'Donnell was very respected by the players for his no-nonsense, flamboyant style, though his final game of his officiating career was marred by a controversial ejection of the Houston Rockets' Clyde Drexler in a 1995 playoff game against the Phoenix Suns when Drexler picked up two technical fouls after arguing with O'Donnell. This occurred after O'Donnell refused to shake hands at the tipoff with Drexler. Rumors swirled that O'Donnell had a feud with Drexler, and league officials certainly thought something was amiss because they suspended O'Donnell for the rest of the 1995 playoffs and wouldn't allow him to work the 1995 NBA Finals, ending a string of 23 consecutive appearances. Both O'Donnell and the NBA have denied the impression that this incident led to O'Donnell being forced out of the league. At the time, O'Donnell claimed there was no feud between him and Drexler, but in a 1996 ESPN interview, O'Donnell said, "I wouldn't give Clyde Drexler much leeway because of the way he reacted with me all the time. I thought at times he would give cheap shots to people, and I just would not allow it."

He announced his retirement as an official in the NBA on December 7, 1995, just days after the league's referees agreed to return to work following a lockout to start the 1995-96 NBA season.

As an umpire, O'Donnell's first game in the American League was September 17, 1968 between the Washington Senators and Cleveland Indians. During his short career in the majors, he worked 489 regular season games, the 1971 American League Championship Series between the Baltimore Orioles and the Oakland Athletics, and was the second base umpire in the 1971 All-Star Game at Tiger Stadium. This game was most notable for Reggie Jackson's home run off of the right-center field transformer. He was also the third base umpire for Jim Palmer's no-hitter on August 13, 1969.