Referee Joey Crawford Elected to Basketball Hall of Fame

Joey Crawford is being enshrined in this year's Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class, more than 10 years after officiating his last NBA game. The Hall's referee wing is one of the most exclusive, with fewer than two dozen officials ever inducted.

Crawford, the son of longtime National League baseball umpire Shag Crawford, decided at age 13 that he wanted to be a referee after watching officials like Mendy Rudolph, Richie Powers and Earl Strom while attending Philadelphia 76ers games in the 1960s.

"My father was a pro and he would be pointing out Mendy Rudolph, Richie Powers, Earl Strom," Crawford said. "I'd just be watching them. And my father, he's hitting me with the sledgehammer: 'You're not gonna play professional baseball.' ... So, I just earmarked refereeing."

Over his career, Crawford officiated more than 2,500 regular-season games, nearly 400 postseason games and 50 NBA Finals games. Longtime coach Mike D'Antoni, also part of the 2026 Hall class, said Crawford "was going to call the game the way it should be called, whether it's home or away."

Crawford was known for both a fiery temper and a sharp sense of humor. Doc Rivers, another 2026 inductee, recalled Crawford's retort after Rivers complained about a missed traveling call on rookie Michael Jordan: "You were not that good."

Crawford's career included controversy. He was charged in a 1998 tax scandal over airline tickets sold by referees without reporting the income, resigned and was later reinstated by then-Commissioner David Stern. In 2007, he was suspended after handing San Antonio star Tim Duncan two technical fouls for laughing on the bench.

Crawford's final game came on Nov. 8, 2015, when he left with a knee injury during a Cleveland-Indiana matchup. He recalled Cavaliers forward Richard Jefferson coming to the referee locker room afterward to tell him, "Everybody should have a Joe Crawford experience."

"The game is about the players," Crawford said. "Our job is to get the play right. Technology has changed, the money has changed, but the job hasn't. But I hope, in my way, I helped make refereeing better."