Jack Nies (pronounced niece) (born November 11, 1937) is a retired

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 ...

(NBA) referee. Nies officiated 2,046 regular-season games throughout his 31-year career, and wore uniform number 35. In addition, Nies oversaw 150 playoff games, 10

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, two

NBA All-Star Game The National Basketball Association All-Star Game is the annual all-star game hosted each February by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and showcases 24 of the league's All-star, star players. Since 2022, it was held on the third Sunday of ...

s (

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

and

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

), and the 1987 Legends Classic. Internationally, he was part of the referee crew for the 1994 Mexico Challenge and the

1997 McDonald's Championship The 1997 McDonald's Championship took place at Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris, France. Summary The teams that took part in the 8th edition of the tournament were the Chicago Bulls, Paris Basket Racing (France), Olympiacos Piraeus (Gre ...

; 2007 Istanbul, Turkey; Malaga and Madrid Spain—NBA Preseason Games Nies retired from the NBA following the 2008–09 season.

Biography

Nies graduated from

St. Peter's Preparatory School Saint Peter's Preparatory School (also known as Saint Peter's Prep or simply Prep) is an Private school, independent, College-preparatory school, preparatory, and Single-sex education, all-male day school located in Jersey City, New Jersey, Jers ...

.D'Alessandro, Dave
"This ref is doubly grand"
''

The Star-Ledger ''The Star-Ledger'' was the largest circulation newspaper in New Jersey. It is based in Newark, New Jersey. The newspaper ceased print publication on February 2, 2025, but continues to publish a digital edition. In 2007, ''The Star-Ledger''s ...

'', April 15, 2008. Accessed November 2, 2016. "'That's a big number,' said Nies, a Jersey City native and St. Peter's Prep graduate.... And because he lived just down the street in Ocean Township, he was good enough that Holzman invited him back the next night, and the next, and the next." He led the school to a state championship in 1955, and was awarded an All-State selection. Nies then played basketball for

University of Saint Mary The University of Saint Mary (USM) is a private Catholic university in Leavenworth, Kansas, United States. It is sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, who established it in 1923 as Saint Mary College. Though it was originally a sch ...

in Kansas before graduating in 1961 with a degree in

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

and

Philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

. Nies then moved back to New Jersey, and lived in

Ocean Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey Ocean Township is a Township (New Jersey), township situated on the Jersey Shore in east central Monmouth County, New Jersey, Monmouth County, within the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is a bedroom suburb of New York City. Ocean Townshi ...

. He started refereeing high school basketball games while working as a

special education Special education (also known as special-needs education, aided education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, and SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates their individual di ...

teacher in the local school district. He then officiated Eastern League games from 1971 until 1978, when he was hired by the NBA. Then-

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...

coach

Red Holzman William "Red" Holzman (August 10, 1920 – November 13, 1998) was an American professional basketball player and coach. He is best known as the head coach of the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1967 to ...

helped by giving the league a letter of recommendation, having been impressed by his refereeing in a game he had seen in 1970. On April 15, 2008, Nies refereed his 2,000th NBA game as his home state

New Jersey Nets New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

overcame a 20-point deficit against the

Charlotte Bobcats Charlotte most commonly refers to: *Charlotte (given name), a feminine form of the given name Charles ** Princess Charlotte (disambiguation) ** Queen Charlotte (disambiguation) *Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, a city * Charlotte (cake) ...

112–108. On April 13, 2009, he officiated his last NBA game as 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 ...

defeated the

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Confer ...

NBA Finals games worked

1997 NBA Finals 1997 Finals, Game 3 1998 NBA Finals 1998 Finals, Game 4 * 2000 Finals, Games 1 and 6 * 2001 Finals, Game 4 * 2002 Finals, Game 1 * 2003 Finals, Game 3 * 2004 Finals, Game 4 (Lead official) * 2005 Finals, Game 2 * 2006 Finals, Game 3

References

External links

Official profile
@ National Basketball Referees Association {{DEFAULTSORT:Nies, Jack 1937 births Living people NBA referees Sportspeople from Jersey City, New Jersey People from Ocean Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey St. Peter's Preparatory School alumni University of Saint Mary alumni