- published: 09 Feb 2015
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Norm Drucker (born July 4, 1920 in New York City) was a major influence in professional basketball officiating for over thirty-five years.
He refereed in the National Basketball Association from 1953 to 1969. In 1969, when the upstart American Basketball Association was raiding the NBA for talent, he, along with three other top NBA "lead" referees—Joe Gushue, Earl Strom and John Vanak—jumped to the ABA with multi-year contracts. As a result, professional officiating salaries dramatically increased.
In the ABA, Drucker officiated and also served as the league's Supervisor of Officials. With the ABA-NBA merger in 1976, Drucker returned to the NBA. He retired as an official in 1977 after having officiated in over 25 NBA and ABA championship-round games and in 3 NBA and 3 ABA all-star games.
In his 24-year career, Drucker was well-known for his even-handed officiating for visiting teams in an era when many NBA officials were criticized as "homers" - favoring the home team. On the court, he holds the distinction of being the only referee ever to eject Wilt Chamberlain from an NBA game, calling two technical fouls on Chamberlain on March 15, 1967.
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans or Afro-Americans, and formerly as American Negroes) are citizens or residents of the United States that have ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa.
African Americans make up the single largest racial minority in the United States. Most African Americans are of West and Central African descent and are descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States. However, some immigrants from African, Caribbean, Central American or South American nations, or their descendants, may be identified or self-identify with the term.
African-American history starts in the 16th century with African slaves who quickly rose up against the Spanish explorer Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón and progresses to the present day, with Barack Obama as the 44th and current President of the United States. Between those landmarks there have been events and issues, both resolved and ongoing, including slavery, racism, Reconstruction, development of the African-American community, participation in the great military conflicts of the United States, racial segregation, and the Civil Rights Movement.