Name Joe DeRosa | Role Referee | |
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Joseph M. "Joe" DeRosa (born April 11, 1957, in North Canton, Ohio) is an NCAA Division 1 men's basketball referee. DeRosa and Joe Forte are the only persons to have officiated both in the NBA Finals and the NCAA Men's Final Four. He was one of three officials selected to work the first of the two 2012 National Semi-Final games of the 2012 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. He officiated both the 2014 National Championship game between Kentucky and Connecticut and the 2015 National Championship game between Duke and Wisconsin. He has officiated in the Southeastern and Big 12 Conferences since 2010. His early childhood was spent on his family's farm in Omaha, Nebraska, raising turkey for export. He started his referee career as a high school official in Western Kentucky Region 1 while he owned a liquor store in Paducah, Kentucky.
Previously, he spent 22 seasons officiating in the National Basketball Association. During his time working as an NBA official he officiated over 1,500 regular-season games, 150 playoff games and 11 NBA Finals games. DeRosa has also conducted officiating clinics in Venezuela and France.
During game two of 2010 Eastern Conference Finals, DeRosa was involved in an altercation with an Orlando Magic fan. The fan, Wyndham Vacation Ownership CEO Franz Hanning, was heckling him when DeRosa threw the game ball across the scorers' table at Hanning. The fan then threw the ball back at DeRosa, who had NBA security eject Hanning. The NBA suspended him one game for the situation.
DeRosa's son, J.B. DeRosa, is also a basketball referee. J.B. officiates women's college basketball at the NCAA Division one level, including the Ohio Valley Conference and the Atlantic 10 Conference among others.