The Baltimore Catholic League (BCL), which consists of eight boys high school basketball teams, is renowned for its caliber and alumni in the NBA. Its officiating needs to be equally strong, and that crew includes Kara Hunter, who last season became the first woman to officiate in the BCL tournament.
On workdays, Hunter is the assistant director of competitive sports in the Department of Recreation and Sports at Loyola University Maryland, but evenings and weekends find her on a basketball court, officiating boys’ high school, women’s college and men’s semi-pro games.
Boys’ games are among her favorite assignments, but she aspires to work in the WNBA, as she finds the women’s game more cerebral.
Her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail, Hunter runs with a light, agile stride, weaving among taller players to monitor the play in a recent game at Loyola Blakefield. She smiles around the whistle in her mouth as she interacts with players, but when Hunter makes a call or gives a signal, she does so without hesitation. Her authority is clear.
Jack Degele, commissioner of the BCL, says Hunter’s name came up when he was rounding out the official roster for the 2019 BCL tournament.
“I first met her at the (tournament) game,” recalled Degele, a 1965 graduate of Mount St. Joseph High School who has been the BCL commissioner since 1995. “I told her, ‘You have to be on your toes because you’re going to make history.’ Our coaches are quite animated. She (had) some tough calls, and she handled it all with poise.”
A tennis player and swimmer in high school, Hunter played club tennis at The Ohio State University. She was pursuing a master’s in higher education with a concentration in athletics at North Carolina State, when a pro basketball official urged her to ref.
“It was a little bit of a leap of faith,” Hunter said.
She began with intramural games, and in 2017, when she was 23 years old, jumped to high school contests. Hunter studies rule books, attend camps, watches film and has mentors who critique her work.
“It’s one thing to read a rule book and another to see the play,” said Hunter, who has learned several sets of rules. “I was also pretty young. I could hear comments from the parents: ‘That’s a girl out there.’ ”
In addition to producing names such as Carmelo Anthony, Rudy Gay and Phil Booth Jr., Hunter is also impressed by the student support in the BCL, as, she laughed, “I’ve never seen so many lacrosse players at a basketball game.”
A native of Ohio, Hunter grew up in Sacred Heart of Mary Parish, near Canton, and attended St. Thomas Aquinas High School, in Louisville, Ohio. Now she finds herself at home in Loyola’s Alumni Memorial Chapel. Her day job dovetails well with officiating, since, in any situation, her faith guides her to see the whole person, not just their athletic side.
“Sometimes at the high school level, I’m the only one watching the child play,” she says. “How can I care for the whole person – not just their athletic side or their student side, but the young men on the court? If you’re thinking about coaching or refereeing, it’s a really good way to give back.”
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