The Extraordinary Story of the NBAs Newest Referee
An ocean away from home, Intae Hwang’s two young children sat in an arena watching an NBA preseason game. They knew the sport well; even back in Korea, their father was obsessed, scrutinizing game film late into the night. The kids looked for their dad now, and they found him running up and down the court. Then the crowd started to chant. “Ref! You! Suck! Ref! You! Suck!”
Neither of the Hwang children spoke English yet. They had just moved 7,000 miles from Korea so their father could chase his dream, and they couldn’t understand what the crowd was saying. But there’s something undeniable about the energy of a full stadium, something that transcends language. The Hwangs joined the rest of the arena, screaming the unfamiliar words.
Ref! You! Suck!
On the court, their father Intae blew his whistle, calling another foul.
He laughs about the story now, another step in a journey that has taken him to referee games in 5 continents. In 2020, Hwang moved his family from Korea to New Jersey with hopes of becoming an NBA referee. This season, Hwang just became a full-time NBA ref, one of only 74 in the world.
“Not everyone is willing to dream big,” said Monty McCutchen, the NBA’s head of referee development and training. “Intae was willing to take a risk on officiating and on the collective happiness of his family. He had the courage to think he could accomplish big things.”
Hwang caught the basketball bug when he was young. At recess growing up in South Korea, all the other kids would gather around the soccer field, waiting in a long line to take a shot on goal. Hwang realized he could go to the basketball hoop and play whenever he wanted; this was the early 90’s, and Korea didn’t even have a professional league yet. He eventually played in college, and it was there that an older teammate suggested Hwang try to referee in order to gain a deeper understanding of the game. In 2004, Hwang picked up the whistle for the first time—though at first, things didn’t go so well.
“After every single game, you feel so bad,” Hwang told the Washington Post. “People were yelling at me. What I read in the rule book, I forgot during the game. It was terrible.”
But Hwang brought a special type of focus and determination to the craft that he had honed in another sport: he’s a third degree black belt in taekwondo. “I wanted to get better and better,” Hwang said. “I want to be perfect, but now I’ve learned from my classes that we cannot be perfect. We can only be excellent.”
For a decade, Hwang officiated in the Korean Basketball League. In 2016, he was selected to referee at the 2016 Rio Olympics, including the women’s gold medal game. That’s when the NBA first noticed him. When he was invited to join the NBA’s prestigious Referee Development Program, he jumped at the chance.
“If any referee in the world gets a letter from the NBA, they would decide to come without even reading it,” Hwang said. “I didn’t hesitate for one second. Am I dreaming?”
But joining the program would mean that Hwang would have to move his family from Korea to New Jersey—without the guarantee of a full-time job. The program runs for three years, and afterwards, only a few candidates are selected to join the NBA.
Hwang and his family moved in January of 2020. The world—and the referee program—shut down just a few weeks after they arrived. Still, Hwang found ways to hone his craft, officiating games at the Secaucus YMCA, studying previous NBA games, and improving his English. When the program started again, Hwang completed it in only 18 months.
“All he did was put in the work, day in and day out,” McCutchen said.
Now, he’s made it to the top of his profession—a long way from that childhood hoop back in South Korea. His kids are learning English. Maybe the next game they attend, they’ll abstain from the chanting. That’s certainly what Hwang would want, if he had his way.
“I’m not the star player,” Hwang said. “I’m not that special. After watching a game, I hope the spectators talk about the plays, the dunks and the three-pointers. My goal is that they don’t mention the referee.”
With a story like his, though, it’s hard not to notice.
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👀 Oh, and one last thing: Stay tuned to this space on Monday for a very exciting announcement. I can’t wait to share it with y’all!
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