Jake O'Donnell is the only person to officiate All-Star games in both Major League Baseball and the NBA.
14 Facts About Jake O'Donnell
1.
2.
Jake O'Donnell was a respected official for his no-nonsense, flamboyant style.
3.
Jake O'Donnell described hall of fame coach and noted referee baiter Red Auerbach as a loudmouth who hated all referees, especially those from Philadelphia.
4.
Jake O'Donnell was one of the many top referees coming out of Philadelphia.
5.
Jake O'Donnell was not inclined to be intimidated or swayed by the home crowds.
6.
Jake O'Donnell was respected for making the correct call and admitting errors when they occurred.
7.
Jake O'Donnell once took a group of reporters in a rental car to a local TV station to review the game tapes following a controversial finish to a 1981 NBA Playoffs game in Philadelphia that involved the 24-second shot clock and a complaint by then-Milwaukee Bucks head coach Don Nelson.
8.
The NBA never formally announced the suspension of Jake O'Donnell, but paid him for working the first three playoff rounds, although he did not work past the second round.
9.
Jake O'Donnell was called up late in the 1968 season, along with former major league player and NBA referee Bill Kunkel, after two AL umpires, Al Salerno and Bill Valentine, were fired by league president Joe Cronin for attempting to organize a union among Junior Circuit umpires.
10.
Jake O'Donnell was the home plate umpire for Mickey Mantle's final game when the New York Yankees played the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on September 28,1968.
11.
Jake O'Donnell was the third-base umpire for Jim Palmer's no-hitter on August 13,1969.
12.
Jake O'Donnell resigned from the AL after the 1971 season to concentrate on his burgeoning basketball officiating career.
13.
Jake O'Donnell did not work another event in the District of Columbia, since the NBA's Bullets were in Baltimore at the time of his resignation and moved to Landover, Maryland, in 1973, where they played at the Capital Centre before moving to the MCI Center in downtown Washington in 1997.
14.
Phillips was the NBA Referee's Association President until he was forced out by Darell Garretson, with whom Jake O'Donnell frequently clashed, in the 1980s.