At a Gaithersburg rec center, players and parents sometimes ask the ref for his autograph.
“Yeah, they know who I am,” said Adrian Dantley before working a typical Sunday triple-header. “At the beginning of the season, they all want autographs and take pictures. I’ve been doing it for years.”
That’s because Dantley, in his day, was one of the most decorated ballers in the nation. The NBA Hall of Famer and two-time scoring champion, now 71, has been reffing games at the Upper County Community Center for 14 years.
“I enjoy being around the kids, especially the younger kids in elementary and middle school,” he said. “I kind of look at them and say, ‘Well this guy, he might be pretty good when he gets in high school.’
“And it keeps me in shape,” he added.
Josh Tunis, a 17-year-old forward on the Shanghai Sharks, a team of high school seniors, had no idea who was calling his game. But he was excited to learn it was Dantley.
“That’s incredible!” said Tunis. “Yeah, of course I know the name. If he makes the call, I ought to listen to him.”
In addition to reffing, Dantley coaches kids from third graders to high school seniors. (Eric Thompson for The Banner)
Not everyone knows the extra tall man in the striped shirt.
Nancy Tunis, Josh’s mom and the coach of the Sharks, had never heard of Dantley. But now she’s impressed with both his history and humility.
“He had this huge career,” she said. “I think that’s really nice that he’s choosing to give back to our community without any fanfare, because we didn’t know that we had someone famous amongst us.”
Dantley, 71, is a D.C. native who lives in Silver Spring. A graduate of DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville who went on to play at Notre Dame, he was the sixth overall pick in the 1976 NBA draft by a team called the Buffalo Braves (who are now the Los Angeles Clippers).
Dantley averaged 24.3 points per game in his career, and led the league in scoring in 1980-81 (30.7 points per game) and 1983-84 (30.6) – bookends of a scintillating four-year run when he averaged at least 30 points per game each season, all with the Utah Jazz.
Dantley of the Detroit Pistons, right, moves past Boston Celtics Kevin McHale on his way to the basket during a game in 1987. (AP)
Then-acting head coach of the Denver Nuggets, Dantley watches a game against the San Antonio Spurs in 2010. (David Zalubowski/AP)‘The teacher’
At a recent game between the Sharks and the Upper County Cowboys, Dantley kept a low profile, but called out fouls in a clear, authoritative voice. The Cowboys’ coach, Terrell Fraser, who knew of Dantley’s accomplishments, appreciated the expertise he brings to the job.
“He knows the game,” said Fraser. “I never have to worry about calls. I just got to worry about the kids, because they don’t know basketball, real basketball, like he knows it. That’s a Hall of Famer.”
Jonathan Zimmerman, who coaches a team of 12th grade girls for whom Dantley was officiating that afternoon, said he remembers watching Dantley as a kid.
“I think it’s amazing,” he said. “He’s not making it about himself. He just cares about the kids in the game.”
Now 71, Dantley has been reffing games at the Upper County Community Center for 14 years. (Eric Thompson for The Banner)
Dantley said he refs more than 200 games a year. (Eric Thompson for The Banner)
In addition to reffing, Dantley coaches kids from third graders to high school seniors — all across Montgomery County. One of his nicknames during his playing career was “The Teacher.”
He said he refs more than 200 games a year and is looking forward to wrapping up the current season.
“So I’m tired now,” he said. “I’m ready for it to end. We’ve got one more weekend and I’m done.”
Dantley also officiates at some high school and senior games — as in senior citizens. And when he’s not on the court he can often be found filling in as a Montgomery County Public School crossing guard.
Free throws
Dantley, muscular and lean, looks much younger than his age. At 6-foot, five-inches, he weighs 215 pounds — only seven pounds more than what’s listed as his playing weight on basketballreference.com. One way he stays in shape is by playing one-on-one full-court basketball games.
“I still work out,” he said. “I got a treadmill. I got a Stairmaster. I got weights.”
Dantley shoots free throws at Upper County Community Center after refereeing a game in Gaithersburg. (Eric Thompson for The Banner)
He’s careful about what he eats.
“I don’t eat no junk. I’m vegetarian, I’m Mediterranean. All my friends, all my family, none of them don’t eat like me. I’m the only one.”
At a recent Sunday afternoon at Upper County Community Center, Dantley picked up a basketball before the games to work on his free-throw skills.
Thursday, at a charity event at the Jazz game against the Milwaukee Bucks, he earned $2,000 for the Utah Food Bank by making the required four free throws in 30 seconds.
Dantley missed his first two, but made the next four. He said he was a bit nervous – it was the first time he’d been in front of an arena of 20,000 people in 35 years.
He had an excellent 82% free-throw success rate in the NBA. In 1984, he tied a record set by Wilt Chamberlain with 28 made free throws in a single game, when he went 28-for-29 in a 46-point outburst as the Jazz beat the Houston Rockets.
That record lasted until this month, when Bam Adebayo made 36 free throws in his monster 83-point scoring rampage for the Miami Heat over the Washington Wizards.
Dantley sinks a free throw. (Eric Thompson for The Banner)
Frederic J. Frommer, a sports and politics historian who has written for The Washington Post, The New York Times, POLITICO Magazine and other national publications, is working on a book on 1970s baseball.