Richie Powers

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Richie Powers orders one second to be placed on the game clock during the second overtime of Game 5 of the 1976 NBA Finals.

Richard F. "Richie" Powers (October 14, 1930 - July 31, 1998) was a referee in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1956 to 1979. He worked 25 NBA Finals games including the triple overtime Game 5 contest in 1976 NBA Finals between the Phoenix Suns and the Boston Celtics and three All-Star Games. He wore the uniform number 9 before when he joined the NBA but changed to the number 26 at the start of the 1969-70 NBA season.

Powers attended St. John's University and played baseball under Frank McGuire. Before joining the NBA, Powers worked as a minor league baseball umpire, reaching the Eastern League.

Powers was fired from the NBA in 1979 by then Supervisor of Officials, Norm Drucker, over two incidents that took place in 1978. In a February 1978 game between the New Jersey Nets and Atlanta Hawks, Powers told coaches Kevin Loughery and Hubie Brown that they could play zones defenses to avoid being badgered by the coaches. One sportswriter in the arena reported this to the league which resulted in Powers being suspended for three weeks and fined $2,500. In a November 8, 1978 game at the Spectrum, Powers hit both Kevin Loughery and then rookie Bernard King with their third technical fouls, over the "limit" of two prescribed by an unwritten rule although Powers claims he was not reminded that each person was hit with a previous technical foul by the two other officials working the game with him. This resulted in Powers being fined and suspended again.

After leaving the NBA, he became sportscaster on WABC-TV in New York, New York. Richie Powers was a long time member of Westchester Country Club in Rye, New York. He later died of a stroke in 1998 in Allentown, Pennsylvania at the age of 67.

[edit] 1976 NBA Finals

The triple-overtime Game 5 had controversy involving Powers. With the score tied 101-101 in the first overtime, Boston's Paul Silas stole the ball with three seconds remaining and attempted to call timeout towards Powers. Boston was out of timeouts, thus would have resulted in a technical foul and free throws awarded to Phoenix which more than likely decided the game in the Suns favor and a series lead three games to two. However, Powers ignored Silas' call for the timeout as time expired in the overtime period. Boston went on to win the game in the third overtime period. Some within the Suns organization said Powers later told a Phoenix golf professional that he didn't want to see the championship decided on a technicality. Years later, Al Bianchi, assistant coach of the Suns, had a ring made on which he had the words "Fuck You, Richie Powers" inscribed.

One of the commentators working for CBS during the 1976 NBA Finals was Powers' colleague, Mendy Rudolph, who had retired as an official following the 1974-75 season. Rudolph and color commentator Rick Barry were quick to note that Silas was signaling for a timeout at the end of the first overtime but Powers ignored the request.

Powers was also attacked in the same game by an irate Celtics fan on the court after making the decision to put one second back on the game clock following a made bank shot by the Celtics' John Havlicek at the end of the second overtime that put Boston up by one point. Slow-motion replays show that Powers' decision to put time back on the clock was correct. However, one second was not enough time, as Havlicek actually scored with two seconds still showing on the clock, as Barry and play-by-play announcer Brent Musburger were quick to note on the telecast of the game.