Brandon Burleson was an accomplished wrestler at Avery County High School. The member of the Class of 1995 was a two-time Regional Qualifier in wrestling as a Viking, but was unable to reach the goal of wrestling at the state tournament.His experiences as a grappler were an inspiration to pursue another field a number of years following graduation, continuing a career in high school wrestling as a referee. Last month, Burleson was nominated by his area wrestling officials association as one of only 24 referees statewide to officiate at this year’s NCHSAA state wrestling tournament, held at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem.
“My booking agent wanted to surprise me with the invitation. I received a letter from Mark Dreibilbis, the Assistant Executive Director of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association, congratulating me on being chosen to officiate at the tournament,” Burleson remarked in an interview last week. “My booking agent then called to tell me he had a surprise for me. I asked him if it was that I had been chosen to officiate the state tournament, he said, “Yeah. How did you know?” and I told him I’d received the letter.”
Burleson has been a wrestling referee for seven years with the Northwestern Officials Association, and has officiated across the mountains and foothills for matches in Avery, Watauga, Caldwell, Catawba, Lincoln, Burke, and McDowell County. At the state finals, Burleson called matches in the 215-pound and heavyweight tournaments.
The opportunity for Brandon to officiate has served as an extension of sorts to a standout prep wrestling career. Burleson enjoys the action on the mat and feels blessed to be able to continue being part of the sport he loves, as well as the schedule flexibility that officiating allows.
“To stay involved in the sport is important to me. Being a wrestling coach takes up such a large amount of time, and I have all the respect in the world for high school coaches who do it. At first I thought about maybe coaching at a middle school level which might take up less time, but officiating has allowed me to be more selective in regard to my time and schedule and choosing which events to work,” Burleson explained. “I feel like in some way I’m giving back to the sport. Wrestling helped me a lot in life when it comes to discipline and things of that nature.”
Burleson wrestled at the 152 pound weight class as a student, and wrestled under Avery head coaches Hank Hardin and Sherman Andrews. The lessons he learned as a prep wrestler has served Brandon well as an official.
“I was a match from the state tournament in both my junior and senior years and lost in the regionals both years with the same official. I had sort of a bone to pick with how the matches were called, and I have never wanted a kid to lose a match because of me,” Burleson elaborated. “Now having been an official, I have a lot of respect for those who do it. Referees are human and they don’t always see everything, but the only thing you can do is call the best you can and try to call it as fairly as you can, hopefully without doing anything that might cause a kid to lose a match.”
Burleson has attended the state tournament a number of times, but the state tournament is a unique event to experience from the standpoint of officiating. “I had been on the floor at the state tournament when John Mark Bentley won his fourth state title, and I’ve atended the tournament almost every year since high school. The state tournament in itself is a neat, neat thing. Just watching the Parade of Champions itself as the wrestlers come to the floor for their championship matches is one of the most exciting and hair-raising events to experience first-hand,” Burleson added.
Although the event was an honor to Brandon, it wasn’t without its share of nervous moments.
“When I got ready on Friday for my first match, I was nervous because you don’t want to mess up or blow a call. They actually sat an official for a couple of matches because of a couple of mistakes, and you don’t want to be that guy that the whole state talks about,” Burleson said. “Our booking organization sent two referees, and my booking agent added a little pressure on me in telling me before the tournament that I was ready to do it, but don’t screw up.”
Brandon discussed the honor of having the opportunity to call alongside a number of veteran officials, including legendary referee Joe Jones, the state’s oldest official who has been part of the tournament for over 35 years and was the first official to suggest using the red and green wrist bands as part of the current wrestling scoring system used in North Carolina.
Burleson was observed and evaluated during his officiating at the state tournament, with people observing how referees determine falls and how efficient a referee calls his matches.
“Officials observe during the tournament and they want you to be as perfect as you can possibly be,” Brandon stated. “My booking agent contacted me and said that his first impression from the head of officiating was that everything went really smoothly, so he told me I must have done well.”
Due to his performance, Burleson may be invited to referee at the tournament again in future years, and he says he would be honored to officiate at the event if called upon. “I’d probably do the tournament again,” Brandon added. “I’m sure I wouldn’t be as nervous as I was this first time. I came to the realization that you just call like any other match. You call the matches as you see them.”
