Hank Nichols, retired Villanova professor and Hall of Fame basketball referee, has died at 89
He was honored for officiating hundreds of college, European, and international basketball games, and for setting the standards for officials nationwide.
Hank Nichols, 89, formerly of St. Davids, retired professor and former chair of what is now the Department of Education and Counseling at Villanova University, Hall of Fame basketball referee, English teacher, minor league baseball player, coach, mentor, and Marine veteran, died Friday, March 27, of age-associated decline at Bryn Mawr Hospital.
Born and reared in Niagara Falls, N.Y., Dr. Nichols came to Villanova on a baseball scholarship in the 1950s and became a star catcher. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education and, after teaching high school English for a few years back in New York, returned in 1970 to become a professor and eventually chair of what was then Villanova’s Department of Education and Human Services.
He was engaging and amusing, former students and colleagues said, and he taught classes such as the Psychology of Learning, Methods of Teaching, and Educational Planning. As department chair, he also supervised the student-teacher program and mentored students and colleagues until his retirement in 2002.
Outside the classroom, Dr. Nichols hung out with Rollie Massimino, Art Mahan, Jake Nevin, and other Villanova notables. “Villanova imbued him to his life,” said his son, Jeff. “He was Mr. Villanova to his last day.”
On basketball courts around the world, from 1970 to 1990, Dr. Nichols became a Hall of Fame referee, officiating hundreds of college, European, and international basketball games, including two Olympic Games, one European championship game, and a record six college men’s national championships.
At his busiest, he told The Inquirer in 1990, Dr. Nichols officiated 50 games per season. Once, he told the Daily News in 1985, he worked 13 games in 13 days.
He cut back to about 20 games per season in 1986 when he became the NCAA’s first coordinator of men’s basketball officials and then rules editor. By then, his national profile had been forged.
“Thousands of NCAA basketball refs,” said author and former Inquirer staff writer Mike Jensen, “and when they went looking for the first national coordinator of officials, they chose Hank Nichols.”
Dr. Nichols was featured often in The Inquirer and Daily News, and he told many tales of sparring with legendary coaches such as John Wooden, Dean Smith, and John Chaney. He talked of long road trips, late-night dinners in 24-hour diners, and calling sometimes controversial fouls on star players such as Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, and Bob Lanier.
Thick skin, he told The Inquirer in 1990, is a prerequisite for referees. “If you took it personally every time 16,000 to 20,000 people boo,” he said, “you’d wind up in a funny farm.”
He was attentive and polite but no-nonsense on the court, everyone said, and he became so well regarded that Fred Barakat, the officiating supervisor for the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1985, called him “the best referee in the world.” Former Daily News reporter Dick Weiss called him “the best official I ever saw.”
He also was chair of the officials committee for USA Basketball and most recently a regional umpire observer for Major League Baseball.
He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012 and told the crowd that his parents taught him: “Be fair to everybody. Treat everybody equally. Do the right thing.”
He was also inducted into Halls of Fame by Villanova, the Philadelphia Big 5, Greater Buffalo, Greater Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Bishop Duffy High School.
He coached high school basketball and baseball in New York in the 1960s, played on the Villanova freshman basketball team, and spent three seasons as a minor league catcher and manager for the Cincinnati Reds. He served two years in the Marine Corps after college and rose to first lieutenant.
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He was an assistant baseball coach at Villanova in 1963 and might have remained a high school coach and English teacher for life, he told the Daily News. But he got fired after one of his New York basketball teams went 2-18.
So he went to Duke University and got his doctorate in education administration in 1975. In a tribute, his family said: “He believed that his true legacy will live on within those he taught, coached, and loved.”
Henry Owen Nichols was born July 20, 1936. He was a three-sport star in high school and grew up watching his father referee high school basketball games.
He met Letitia Merino through friends, and they married in 1966, and lived in Niagara Falls, Durham, N.C., Villanova, and St. Davids. They reared a son, Jeff, and daughters Rachel, Sarah, and Emily. His wife died in 1997, and he moved to Bryn Mawr a few years ago.
Dr. Nichols was kind, generous, and friendly, his family said. He coached and encouraged his children, and tugged on his ear if he thought he was on TV during a game so they knew he was thinking of them.
Usually, he drove straight home after road games to be there in the morning. “Everybody who met him considered him a friend,” his son said.
He attended St. Katherine of Siena Church in Wayne and became close to others through shared faith. “He was loving, joyful, fair, and full of wonder,” his grandson Simon said.
His daughter Rachel said: “He was optimistic. The goodness always rose through for him. It’s what he saw in people. He was everybody’s dad. No matter what, he loved everyone.”
In addition to his children and grandson, Dr. Nichols is survived by two other grandsons, Lucas and Joshua, and other relatives. Two brothers died earlier.
Visitation with the family is to be from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday, April 9, at the McConaghy Funeral Home, 328 W. Lancaster Ave., Ardmore, Pa. 19003. Mass is to be at 10 a.m. Friday, April 10, at St. Thomas of Villanova Church, 800 E. Lancaster Ave., Villanova, Pa. 19085.
Donations in his name may be made to the Villanova University student scholarship fund, 800 E. Lancaster Ave., Villanova, Pa. 19085.