Referee Dies in An Exciting Basketball Game

Nothing seemed more important to the crowd than the outcome of a hotly-contested championship basketball game being played in O. C. Lewis Gymnasium in Anderson, Indiana. With three minutes to go and the visitors leading by two points, a foul was called on one of the hometown players. Excitement rose as the Anderson boy stepped up to the foul line for his free throw. Suddenly, the umpire slumped to the floor. In seconds a doctor was at his side. Solemnly, the announcement was made that the umpire was dead. Within moments the game was canceled, the people left the gymnasium as though it were a mortuary. The formerly loud-yelling, sports-minded crowd had become a calm group of sober-faced individuals who unexpectedly had been reminded of the relative unimportance of temporal activities. (Encyclopedia of Illustrations #4944).