Laurie Selected for Kansas Collegiate Officials HOF

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- MIAA football supervisor of officials Phil Laurie will be inducted into the Kansas Collegiate Officials Hall of Fame along with fellow longtime official Charlie Weems on Sunday, March 6, 2011. The Hall of Fame banquet is at 11 a.m. at the Courtyard Wichita at Old Town, 820 E. Second Street.

Laurie worked as a football official in the Big 8 and Big 12 for 24 seasons, including 18 bowl games and more than 250 major college games.

Laurie was an official in two national championships - the 1997 Sugar Bowl and the 2004 Rose Bowl.

He officiated five state high school basketball tournaments, three state high school championship games and worked the only Grand State basketball tournament.

Laurie currently is the supervisor of officials in the MIAA and an assistant supervisor of officials in the Big 12.

Weems was the first African-American football official in the Big 8, first African-American to work a Kansas state basketball championship game and the first African-American president of the Kansas Officials Association.

Weems also was a basketball official in the Big 8 and was the first African-American official to work in the Big 8 championship game. Weems officiated in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) and the Heart of America (HOA), in addition to working Kansas junior colleges and small college games.