Overcash in overdrive

Football referee Oscar Overcash, age 67, was in on every play of the Willmar Mustangs football game last week.

Including punts and kickoffs, that would be approximately 120 plays.

He even got in on a tackle -- accidentally -- bruising his right arm.

"David Blom (the home-team's 215-pound running back) came through the line and I thought, 'Oh, I've got to get out of the way.' But he got hit from the side and a pile of us just all went down together.''

Overcash been around football all his life -- as a player for Landis High School in North Carolina, as a three-year starter at North Carolina State, six seasons playing semi-pro or amateur football and for over 30 years as a registered high school official.

Saturday's tilt at Hodapp Field was the third game he's done this season in the Northern Power amateur league.

He referees high school football out of the St. Cloud Association. In spring, he's the starter at high school track meets (He was a weight man at NCS.) Summer finds him umpiring baseball, fast-pitch softball and, once a week, slow-pitch.

On Tuesday, he reached his official retirement date from the Willmar school district. The former special education teacher and junior-high coach has no plans to quit officiating.

"If I had to sit and watch, I couldn't do it," he said. "I'll keep coaching junior high football and I'll keep officiating as long as I can. It's the only place to be on Friday nights."

The Landis Yellowjackets had several top prospects in 1958. At 6-2, 235 pounds, Overcash already had college size. The 1963 Wolfpack program lists him at the same height and weight.

"There wasn't much weightlifting those days," he said. "I could have added 40 pounds. My shoulders and arms never really developed much."

An All-State and Shrine-Bowl selection, he was recruited by all four major colleges in North Carolina. A December visit during a basketball tournament featuring Top Ten teams on the NC State campus at Raleigh sold him on the Wolfpack.

Two years after graduating in 1959, he was snapping to the Wolfpacks' All-America quarterback Roman Gabriel, who would be the No. 1 pick in the AFL draft (Oakland Raiders) and No. 2 overall in the NFL draft. Gabriel signed with the Los Angeles Rams and went on to become one of the elite quarterbacks of the 1960s and early '70s.

Oscar missed half his junior season after shattering his right arm making a tackle. His senior year, the Wolfpack tied for the ACC championship and finished 7-3 before losing to Mississippi State in the Liberty Bowl.

Social changes were in the wind, but rigid traditions persisted in the South. While the North had integrated its college teams, especially benefiting Big 10 programs at Minnesota and Michigan State.

For eight years after leaving college with a education degree in Industrial Technology, Overcash played football for up to $140 a game and sometimes for nothing with the Richmond Rebels, the Roenoke Buckskins, the Frederick Falcons and the Chambersburg Cardinals.

After one year of teaching, his day job was in service and sales for the Otis Elevator Company. He also fulfilled his ROTC obligation with the Army as a 2nd Lieutenant. He spent two years on regular duty, including 1966 in Vietnam as a transportation officer.

He met his wife-to-be out East. Mary Hoaglund was born in Willmar but grew up in Mankato.

The young couple moved to Iowa and then to Olivia and finally Willmar where they would raise three children. Oscar held several jobs before using his teacher training to join the Willmar schools system in 1986.

He'd started officiating on a limited basis in 1973 when the couple moved to the Midwest. At Olivia, Harlan Krupke, a still-active official living in Benson, got Oscar into the local officiating network.

His current high-school crew includes another retired teacher/coach, Lynn Peterson, and local businessman Ken Warzecha.

"I've lost more than a step," he chuckles. "I always took pride that on a touchdown, I'd get to the end zone at the same time as the running back or receiver. The other day, there was a long run and when the back got to the goal line I was at the 15-yard-line."

But the old center, plans to be in the middle of the action as long as his body will allow.

"Officials are needed," he said. "For me, it's not really a job. It's fun, and I get paid for it."