Steve Javie

Steve Javie was born on January 17, 1955, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania[1] to Stan and Stella Javie.[3] During his childhood, he attended and later graduated from La Salle College High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he played baseball, football, and basketball, earning All-League honors in baseball and basketball.[1] Following high school, he continued a baseball career at Temple University.[1] He graduated from the university in 1976[1] with a bachelor's degree in business administration.[4] As a prospect in baseball, Javie signed with the Baltimore Orioles minor league organization.[1] He was released from the Orioles minor league system (Class-A)[4] after one year due to an arm injury suffered as a pitcher.[3]

Steve Javie's father, Stan Javie, was also a sports official.[1] Stan Javie worked in the National Football League from 1951 to 1980 as a field judge and back judge, and was assigned to officiate four Super Bowls.[3] In an interview with Referee magazine, Steve Javie described his father as "a guy you'd go to war with. He had a passion. He was probably the official that everyone strives to be, but can't, because you have to be yourself. I can't be a Stan Javie and you can't be, but if you took all the characteristics and makeup, you'd want to be that kind of official."[3] His godfather, Johnny Stevens, was an American League umpire[1] and worked four World Series in a career that spanned from 1948 to 1975.[5]

Javie resides in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania.[1] He is married to Mary-ellen, whom he met in 1990 at the Philadelphia International Airport, where she was employed.[3] The couple was married in August 1991.[3]

Along with his wife, Steve Javie started the Javie Foundation for Charity to raise money for the homeless, disabled, abused and neglected children.[1] He hosts an annual fundraising golf tournament to support a variety of causes in the Philadelphia metropolitan area.[3] The two-day event, which also includes dinner, dance, and silent auction, has raised US$1 million since its inception.[3]

In 2007, he participated in a summer clinic at Don Guanella High School in Springfield, Pennsylvania, along with four other NBA officials, teaching developmentally delayed boys the rules of basketball and how to signal violations.[6]

While serving as an umpire, Javie had officiated basketball games at the high school level in Pennsylvania during the baseball off-season.[1][4] In addition, he was invited to NBA camps for prospective officials.[3] Within a week of return home following the end of his umpiring career, Javie contacted his father's friend, NBA referee Earl Strom, who assisted Javie in reaching then-CBA supervisor Cecil Watkins about the possibility of working in the CBA.[3] After officiating games in Philadelphia's Baker League, he was hired by the CBA in the fall of 1981.[3] He arrived to the CBA with a "baseball mentality" and had to make quick decisions on the court because of the league's reputation for fighting among players and arguing by coaches.[4] During a game at The Armory in Albany, New York, Javie was chased down a staircase by then-Albany Patroons coach Phil Jackson, who had received a technical foul.[4] He worked CBA games for five years before being hired by the NBA in 1986.[4]

Upon arriving in the NBA, Javie developed a reputation early for having a "quick trigger finger",[3] and he was believed to be one of the league leaders in calling technical fouls during the late 1980s and early 1990s.[4] Reflecting on his early years in the league, Javie told Sports Illustrated in October 2000, "I'd get so mad I'd lose control for two or three minutes, and that's when I would miss calls."[4] Javie developed mentorships with referees Joe Crawford[7] and Jack Madden[4] to assist in the maturation process. Working his debut game with Crawford at the Pontiac Silverdome in Detroit, Michigan, Javie received a grade of 40 points out of 100 by supervisor Darell Garretson.[4] While reviewing game film later at the hotel, Crawford noted errors made throughout the game by himself.[7] As a result of this film study, Javie learned that experienced officials make mistakes and admitting error will improve a referee's ability in the long-term.[7] Ninety minutes after the conclusion of a game, Javie reviews game film.[4] In addition to film review, Madden taught Javie not to lose focus when players and coaches were upset, and to walk away from them rather than becoming angry.[4] Javie credited his mentors for success as a referee saying, "My mentors have made me what I am today. I'm a little part of each of them. It's their success in teaching me."[3]

Javie had an on-court incident during the 1990–91 NBA season in a game between the Portland Trail Blazers and Washington Bullets.[4] Bullets' forward Pervis Ellison threw the ball at referee Billy Spooner[4] prompting Javie to run across the court to impose a technical foul on Ellison.[8] In the sequence of events that followed, Javie ejected Ellison after protesting the call,[8] the Bullets' head coach Wes Unseld for protesting the dismissal of Ellison, and the Bullets' mascot, "Hoops", for making gestures to incite the crowd.[4] Rod Thorn, then the NBA's vice president for operations, ruled that Javie overreacted in ejecting Ellison and would be subject to discipline.[8] The extent of the disciplinary action was not disclosed.[8] Javie reflected on the experience saying, "My fatal mistake was getting involved with Billy [Spooner] and Pervis [Ellison] in the first place. You have to be there for your partners, but most of the time you've got to let them call their game."[4]

Nearly three years later in another game involving the Portland Trail Blazers, Trail Blazers radio broadcast analyst Mike Rice was ejected by Javie for disputing calls from his broadcast position.[9]

During the 2002–03 NBA season, Javie was fined $1,000 by the league for a verbal altercation with Pat Riley, then-head coach of the Miami Heat.[10]

In April 2003, Javie was the referee in Michael Jordan's final game of his fifteen-year NBA career.[11] During a game break towards the end of regulation, Javie congratulated Jordan on his career and told him he was a "class act".[11] Javie then turned around and told the younger players on the court, "You could do a lot worse than modeling yourselves after this guy."[11]

In January 1999, Javie was the only one of fifteen referees to be acquitted[3] of tax evasion charges as a result of not reporting income he received by downgrading airline tickets provided by the league.[12] Other referees were sentenced to probation or a period of house arrest, and ordered to pay the taxes.[12] He fought the charges because he believed he did not intentionally do anything wrong.[3] Discussing the trial, Javie told Referee magazine, "My job is about my name. My dad taught me your name is the most important thing. I had to fight for my name."[3] During the trial, Javie argued that he didn't owe taxes on more than $84,000 in income over three years because the money was value-earned from frequent flyer miles, which are non-taxable.[3] He later described the trial as "the hardest two weeks" of his life.[3]

Javie announced his retirement before the beginning of the 2011–12 season.[13]

On June 22, 2017, Javie was one of four new inductees into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame in Troy, Michigan. He was the recipient of Sports Faith International's Father Smyth Award on May 22, 2021.

He is a permanent deacon in the Catholic Church.[14]

In June 2012, it was announced that Javie would join NBA on ESPN, serving as a rules analyst working marquee games during the season and throughout the NBA Playoffs.[15] Javie also appears on ESPN programming to discuss controversial referee occurrences.