Assault Archives

2005

SOCCER — During a Oct. 27, 2005, high school soccer playoff game between Guilford and Boylan high schools in northern Illinois, two Guilford players — senior Nevan Kuljanin and sophomore Nino Markovic — spat at referee Ben Buum after an argument stemming from Kuljanin’s second yellow card, an automatic disqualification.

FOOTBALL – The Guilford Vikings and Boylan Titans met at the Titans’ stadium for a sectional playoff. The winner was to advance, the loser go home for the season. With just under 10 minutes to play in the 2005 game and Boylan leading 2-0, referee Ben Buum issued a yellow card in the match to Guilford senior forward Neven Kuljanin. It was Kuljanin’s second yellow card of the game, which automatically disqualified him from the remainder of the match.

Then, Buum said, a sophomore Guilford player approached and started to argue. Buum said the younger player yelled obscenities and spit on his shirt. Kuljanin then spit on the referee’s head, Buum said. Buum filed a complaint with police on Oct. 31. Kuljanin, 18, was arrested at his home on Nov. 3 and charged with misdemeanor battery.

2004

BASKETBALL – Basketball official Valerie Terry was allegedly attacked by two women in the parking lot following an Oct. 19, 2004, boys’ junior high game she officiated. One of the women, Vickie White, 43, of Creal Springs, Ill., was charged with aggravated battery in connection with the confrontation.

The incident occurred following a grade school game between Logan and Creal Springs. The alleged attackers were ejected from the game for unruly behavior. Terry, Akin, Ill., who is in her 12th season as an official, said that the two women threatened her when they were told to leave.

FOOTBALL – James Camden, 43, a resident of Murphysboro, Ill., was ordered to spend 90 days in jail for the Sept. 22, 2003, attack on high school football official Mike Byrne. Camden was fined $2,500, placed on two years’ probation and ordered to write a letter of apology to Byrne. He is barred from attending high school games or sports-related camps for two years and will be required to attend anger management classes.

The incident occurred during a sophomore game at West Frankfort High School in which Camden’s son was a player. Byrne stopped the game before halftime and told referee Tony Gualdoni, then Richard Glodich, the West Frankfort athletic director, that he wanted a boisterous, profane spectator removed from the stands. That fan was Camden. When Glodich approached the bleachers, Camden ran onto the field and wrapped both of his hands around Byrne’s neck. Police were called and Camden was arrested.

SOFTBALL – Mark Riley, 44, of Naperville, Ill., was sentenced June 6, 2005, to five days in a DuPage sheriff’s work program for threatening a high school softball umpire at his daughter’s game in 2004. He was also placed on one year of court supervision by DuPage County Judge Brian McKillip. Riley was ejected from the Naperville Central High School game in West Chicago and then waited for the umpire in the parking lot. Riley was convicted of misdemeanor battery and disorderly conduct for his actions.

SOFTBALL – A softball dad from Naperville, Ill., was charged May 6, 2004, with one count of misdemeanor battery against 17-year-old umpire Phillip Garee. Mark T. Riley, 43, allegedly confronted Garee following an April 28 freshman girls’ game between Naperville Central and West Chicago in which Riley’s daughter, a player for Naperville, was ejected for a second warning about jewelry. Riley was released on $300 bond and faces a court date on June 14. After Riley’s departure, the game proceeded without incident. But afterward, Riley was waiting for Garee in the parking lot. The umpire said Riley threatened to "break every bone" in his body. Riley then allegedly put a finger up against Garee’s chest and pushed him. Riley has denied touching the umpire.

BASEBALL – Eric Dybas might not witness games early in the 2004 Major League Baseball season in person. A judge sentenced the 25-year-old fan, who ran onto the field last April 15, 2003, and attacked umpire Laz Diaz during a Chicago White Sox game, to six months in jail and 30 months of probation. Dybas tried to tackle Diaz, who was umpiring first base, during a game at Chicago’s U.S. Cellular Field. He was subdued by Kansas City Royals players and arrested. Diaz was uninjured. The judge ruled Dybas is eligible for good-behavior early release after 85 days in jail. He was also credited with five days he’d already spent in jail.

2003

FOOTBALL – The father of a high school football player was arrested and charged with aggravated battery after he allegedly ran onto the field and grabbed a referee by the throat.

Police said 43-year-old James Camden, Murphysboro, Ill., was arrested Sept. 22, 2003. Camden was watching his son’s Murphysboro High School sophomore football team play homestanding Frankfort Community High School. Witnesses said Camden yelled at players and officials throughout the first half, including shouting profanities. Before the end of the second quarter, referee Mike Byrne asked Richard Glodich, the Frankfort athletic director, to have Camden removed from the stands.

As Glodich walked toward Camden, however, Camden jumped over a chain that surrounded the field and attacked Byrne, grabbing the referee by the throat. Camden, charged with two counts of felony aggravated battery and one count of misdemeanor battery, posted $5,000 bail and was released.

BASEBALL – Veteran umpire Dan Johns, of Farmington, Ill., doesn’t plan to umpire any more games in Galesburg, Ill. That decision came after Johns was involved in a fight following a July 13, 2003, doubleheader he umpired in Galesburg between two American Legion teams. In the second game, Johns’ partner, Todd Olinger, was paged and had to leave early. Johns worked alone to finish up the game. A Galesburg player was called out at the plate to end the action. Galesburg lost both games to Rock Island, 7-4 and 7-3. As Johns walked to the parking lot, he said one of the Galesburg fans started yelling at him. Then the fan allegedly ran toward Johns to attack him, and in self-defense Johns said he hit the attacker. That’s when others got involved in the confrontation. Johns was not seriously hurt in the incident, but he did report what happened to the American Legion and has made the call not to umpire again in that area.

FOOTBALL – A Illinois youth football coach, convicted of misdemeanor battery against a teenage referee, was defiant after his sentencing, denying he ever touched the official and adding if he had to do it all over again he would beat the referee "into the ground" and "from one end of the field to another." Louis Trench, 56, was convicted June 26, 2003, to a year of probation and ordered to perform 30 days of community service. Trench also was banned for a year from coaching in the Southwest Midget Football league and ordered to undergo behavioral evaluation by Judge Thomas Nowinski. The maximum sentence is 364 days in jail and a $2,500 fine.

The incident occurred Sept. 14, 2002, during a game in which Trench’s team was losing by a wide margin. With about five minutes remaining in the game, Trench’s assistant coach, Joseph Vojtanek, approached 19-year-old referee Steven Besse and, according to Besse, swore and pushed Besse on the shoulders. When Besse ejected Vojtanek, Trench came onto the field and belly-butted and pushed the young referee.

2002

Yelling at an official following a March 8, 2002, high school basketball game in Illinois resulted in the arrest of a Springfield man. Phillip Dorr, 39, was taken into custody after screaming at and getting in the face of a 50-year-old referee following a game between Lanphier High School and Mount Zion High School. A police officer, who was escorting the officials off the floor, stepped in when the referee was confronted to prevent a serious scuffle.

2001

VOLLEYBALL - A junior high school coach tries to take a meat cleaver into school after an argument resulting from the official forfeiting her team due to derogatory comments by a fan directed at the official. (3/2001)

BASKETBALL - When repeated lectures and warnings regarding the consequences of unruly behavior didn't change the attitudes of the Thomson High School varsity boys' basketball team, the school's administration took the most drastic step it could and cancelled the final three games, due to poor sportsmanship on the part of the Varsity players. (2/2001)

1998

SOCCER - A 10 year veteran soccer referee, said he was spit on by a parent, after working a boys U17 Illinois Cup Game, in Rockford. (6/13/98)

1991

BASEBALL - In East St. Louis, an assistant coach was ejected from a game, after verbally abusing a 16-year-old female umpire. It was reported the coach left the ballpark area in his vehicle, and returned 10 minutes later and reentered the field. After getting within 10 feet of the umpire, he pulled a .38-caliber revolver and fired, missing the umpire and all spectators. A relative wrestled the gun from him and the coach was arrested later that evening.(6/91)

1987

BASEBALL - A Little League Baseball manager, in Streamwood, Illinois, was found guilty of battery after following an umpire into an equipment room and pushing him following a 1987 game. The manager was sentenced to perform 40 hours of community service work. (10/87)