Bob Delaney (basketball referee)

Bob Delaney (born November 1, 1951 in Paterson, New Jersey) is a former police officer and professional basketball referee in the National Basketball Association (NBA) who officiated from the 1987-88 NBA season up until the 2010-11 NBA season. Beginning the 2006-07 NBA season, Delaney had officiated in 1,182 regular season games, 120 playoff games, and seven NBA Finals games. In addition, Delaney was assigned to the 1998 NBA All-Star Game. He wore the uniform number 26.

Delaney is a 1973 graduate of New Jersey City University with a Bachelor of Science degree in criminology. He is a 2006 inductee into NJCU's Athletics Hall of Fame. After finishing college, Delaney joined the New Jersey State Police. During the mid-1970s, Delaney worked as an undercover officer as part of an operation known as "Project Alpha".

While serving as a police officer, Delaney was also a high school basketball referee in New Jersey from 1972 to 1982 and later officiated in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) for four years before being selected by scouts to officiate in the NBA, beginning in 1987.

In the early 1980s, Delaney retired as a law enforcement officer and devoted full-time to becoming a basketball referee. In 2008, Delaney wrote about his undercover experience in Covert: My Years Infiltrating the Mob, with co-author Dave Scheiber. He completed a Master of Arts degree in leadership from Saint Mary's College of California.

In 2012, Delaney was awarded the third highest honor within the Department of the Army Civilian Awards, the Outstanding Civilian Service Award, for substantial contributions to the U.S. Army community.