Bernie W. Fryer (born December 25, 1949) has been Vice President and Director of

Officials An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (either their own or that of the ...

for the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

since July 2008. He was a player in the NBA and

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major professional basketball league that operated for nine seasons from 1967 to 1976. The upstart ABA operated in direct competition with the more established National Basketball Association thr ...

(ABA) from 1973 to 1975 before serving as a referee from

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Early life

Fryer attended

Port Angeles High School Port Angeles High School (PAHS) is a public high school in Port Angeles, Washington, United States. It is part of the Port Angeles School District. It is the largest high school in the North Olympic Peninsula region. Built in 1953, the facilitie ...

Port Angeles, Washington Port Angeles ( ) is a city and county seat of Clallam County, Washington, Clallam County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. The population was 19,960 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most populous city in t ...

. In high school, he participated in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and basketball and was named an "

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

" in both sports during his junior and senior seasons. Following high school, he attended and graduated from

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

(BYU) in 1972. At BYU, he played basketball and was selected to the All-

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

team from 1970 to 1972. He led the team in scoring in 1971 with 19.2 ppg to help the Cougars win the WAC championship.

Professional basketball career

Fryer was selected by the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

in the seventh round of the 1972 NBA draft. He never played for the Suns, however, making his NBA debut with the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (N ...

in 1973. He played 80 games for the Blazers during the 1973–74 season, and he was named to the All-Rookie Second Team after averaging 7.0 points and 3.5 assists per game. The following season, he split time between the New Orleans Jazz of the NBA and the ABA's

Spirits of St. Louis The Spirits of St. Louis were a basketball franchise based in St. Louis that played in the American Basketball Association (ABA) from 1974 to 1976. This was the third and last city of a franchise that had begun as a charter member in 1967 as the ...

, scoring 157 combined NBA/ABA points before retiring in 1975. Over his playing career, he averaged 6.3 points, 3.0 assists and 1.8 rebounds with the Trail Blazers and Jazz in the NBA and 7.8 points, 2.9 assists and 2.4 rebounds in nine games for the St. Louis Spirits in the ABA.

Officiating career at NBA

After retiring as a player, Fryer embarked upon a lengthy career as an NBA referee, beginning in 1978. As of the beginning of the

2006–07 NBA season The 2006–07 NBA season was the 61st season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The San Antonio Spurs were crowned the champions after sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals. Notable occurrences *The first NBA draft und ...

, he officiated 1,649 regular season, 145 playoff, and 11

NBA Finals The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern and Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven series to determine the league ...

games as well as the 1998 All-Star Game. He was also one of three former NBA players (

Leon Wood Osie Leon Wood III (born March 25, 1962), is an American former professional basketball player. A college All-American, he was a first round NBA draft pick, and both an Olympic and Pan-Am Games gold-medalist. He subsequently has had a career ...

and

Haywoode Workman Haywoode Wilvon Workman (born January 23, 1966) is an American former basketball player who is a referee in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played the point guard position at 6'2", and played 359 games in eight NBA seasons for fiv ...

) who officiated in the league. During a 2002 playoff game between the

Charlotte Hornets The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team ...

and

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NB ...

, Fryer and his officiating crew disallowed a

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. Consequently, ...

made by the Hornets'

Baron Davis Baron Walter Louis Davis (born April 13, 1979) is an American former professional basketball player who is a studio analyst for the ''NBA on TNT''. He was a two-time NBA All-Star, made the All-NBA Third Team in 2004, and twice led the NBA in st ...

. Davis received an inbound pass with 0.7 seconds remaining and successfully made the shot before the buzzer sounded. This incident led

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

David Stern David Joel Stern (September 22, 1942 – January 1, 2020) was an American lawyer and business executive who was the commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1984 to 2014. Stern oversaw NBA basketball's growth into one of t ...

to consider the use of

instant replay Instant replay or action replay is a video reproduction of something that recently occurred, both shot and broadcast live TV, live. After being shown live, the video is replayed so viewers can see it again and analyze what just happened. Spo ...

in NBA games. Considered one of the top-rated referees in the league, he retired in 2007 following Game 3 of the

2007 NBA Finals The 2007 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2006–07 season and conclusion of the season's playoffs. In this best-of-seven playoff series, the Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs d ...

having officiated 1,806 NBA games. It was reported that Fryer was dissatisfied over the current state of management of officials.

Director of Officials

During the 2007–08 season, Fryer served as the acting Assistant Director of Officials and Crew Chief Coordinator. He was appointed Vice President and Director of Officials in July 2008, overseeing the development and the transition of referees between the

D-league The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of the 2024–25 season, ...

and the NBA, as well as managing their on-court performance. Fryer still remains an advisor to the NBA.

Career statistics

NBA/ABA

Source

Regular season

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:right;" , - ! Year ! Team ! GP ! MPG ! FG% ! 3P% ! FT% ! RPG ! APG ! SPG ! BPG ! PPG , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

, 80 , , 20.9 , , .460 , , , , .793 , , 2.0 , , 3.5 , , 1.2 , , .1 , , 7.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

(ABA) , 9 , , 29.3 , , .353 , , .000 , , .786 , , 2.4 , , 2.9 , , .7 , , .0 , , 7.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, 31 , , 13.9 , , .443 , , , , .767 , , 1.5 , , 1.7 , , .7 , , .0 , , 4.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career (NBA) , 111 , , 19.0 , , .457 , , , , .787 , , 1.8 , , 3.0 , , 1.0 , , .1 , , 6.2 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career (overall) , 120 , , 19.8 , , .447 , , .000 , , .786 , , 1.9 , , 3.0 , , 1.0 , , .1 , , 6.3

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fryer, Bernie 1949 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Washington (state) BYU Cougars men's basketball players Denver Rockets draft picks Junior college men's basketball players in the United States NBA referees New Orleans Jazz players Phoenix Suns draft picks Point guards Portland Trail Blazers players Spirits of St. Louis players Sportspeople from Bellingham, Washington