Officiating keeps Messerli in the game

MARION -- Dave Messerli left coaching more than a decade ago.But he didn't leave football. Not for good, anyway.Messerli, who coached Marion High School from 1981 through 1998, has gotten back into the game as an official."My wife (Jill) commented to me that I might like to try it," said Messerli, 60, who still teaches government and coaches boys' golf and freshman girls' basketball at Marion.Four years ago, he began officiating middle-school and junior-varsity games. After two years of that, he signed on with a crew -- with Brad Butschi of Robins, Marc Frette of Marion, Bill Keel of Hiawatha and Paul Witte of Cedar Rapids.The crew does varsity, JV and middle-school games throughout Eastern Iowa, a total of about 30 throughout the fall.This week, Messerli worked a JV game in Lisbon on Monday and a middle-school contest in Mount Vernon on Tuesday. He's taking Friday off; he'll be inducted into the Marion High School Athletic Hall of Fame.A typical varsity game pays $75-$80 per official, a JV game $55-60 and a middle-school contest around $40.Messerli serves as the referee, the head official who he says "keeps the game rolling, makes the signals, keeps the ball in play."He tries to be the kind of official he respected when he coached."The refs that dealt with me in a calm manner were the ones I respected," he said. "When you talk to a coach calmly, and you don't get uptight with him, they usually respond in a positive manner."Messerli accumulated a 98-63 record and coached the Indians to the state semifinals in 1981 and 1982. He coached players like Todd Twachtmann and Carey Bender.And yes, he still misses coaching."Sure I do," he said. "I miss the camaraderie with kids. There's nothing like a Friday night with the kids, especially after a win. I miss the camaraderie with coaches."The thing I don't miss about it is feeling rotten all the time, the stress. At first, I was just uptight on Fridays. By the time I resigned, I was uptight all week."Now, most of the pain is physical. His knees are arthritic, and he had difficulty walking after working Tuesday.Since his coaching departure, the game has evolved. Messerli's teams, as were most teams in the '80s and '90s, were ground-oriented."I worked the West Delaware-Mount Vernon (eighth-grade) game Tuesday, and both teams were working out of the shotgun," he said. "They weren't passing all the time, but they were passing some."It's more an open game now. It's a different game."