Class Alumni Members Have Experience Success in High School, College, Professional and International Basketball Posted Thursday, June 10, 2021 @ 6:31 PM Scott Mauro ’94 and ’19 | June 10, 2021 (Orlando, FL) – UCF is quickly growing a reputation as “Referee U.” UCF Alumni members are officiating at the highest levels of basketball (college, the NBA, and on the international stage with FIBA). A primary reason for their success is the UCF Basketball Officiating Class which will celebrate its 25th Anniversary when the class resumes in late August after a one-year hiatus due to the pandemic. The Recreation and Wellness Center plays host to the nine-week course annually starting the last Tuesday of August. UCF students and community members from across the state pay to take part in the class. World-class instructors host clinics, film sessions and teach officiating techniques to class members who officiate intramural sports games for more than two months. Don Rutledge, who had a prestigious college basketball officiating career, founded the class and turned it over to UCF staff in the mid-1990s, including UCF Executive Director of Recreation and Wellness Jim Wilkening. Wilkening, a college basketball official for 20 years, has directed the class for 25 years. He says UCF has a national reputation for developing officials, “Being described as a referee factory we take pride in developing officials to reach their potential. High school, college, and professional are all levels we help prospective officials make connections with.” So far three Knights, and class alumni, have worked for the NBA: Ray Acosta: 2017-2018 to present Brent Barnaky: 2010-2011 to present Steve Anderson: 2013-2017 Acosta, Anderson, Barnaky, and University High School (Orlando) alumnus Nick Buchert are the only graduates from the officiating class to make it to the NBA full-time. One other Knight, Dannica Mosher, is the first woman in UCF history to work as a full-time official in the WNBA (women’s professional league). Six other officials with ties to the class or UCF are currently in the NBA minor leagues known as the G-League. Mosher and many of the other officials have worked part-time in the NBA, including earlier this year when five former UCF RWC employees, and class alumni members, officiated in the NBA on the same day. Anderson was the only American official at the 2016 Summer Olympics and will return to the summer games in Tokyo in July. The RWC is now accepting applications for the 25th Anniversary class scheduled to begin August 31, 2021. The fee is $35 for UCF students and $70 for non-UCF students. For more information on how to apply (spots are limited) contact Shane Land at shane.land@ucf.edu or call 407-823-2408. Back