Longtime Pacific hoops ref leaving region for retirement

KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa — A familiar refereeing face on the Pacific’s high school and interservice basketball courts is leaving the region later this week.

John Zivic, 73, a retired Air Force master sergeant from Lorain, Ohio, has worked for Marine Corps Community Services since 2004, most recently as a health and wellness counselor. He and his wife Toyo will move to Myrtle Beach, S.C.

But he’s most familiar to military and high school players and coaches in the Pacific, where he’s officiated basketball since his first high school game at Kubasaki on Okinawa in 1971.

The Pacific’s basketball culture, Zivic said in an interview earlier this month, is one of the things he’ll miss.

"The high school and military coaches and players, being with the kids and all my military and civilian friends who I can’t even count," Zivic said.

A longtime Pacific interservice basketball coach said Zivic upheld the rulebook on the court, but was also a patient communicator with players and coaches in the name of better understanding of the game.

"He’s one of the best," said Gerrard Barnes, longtime Andersen Air Force Base fitness center director and three-time Pacific Air Forces tournament champion coach. I’ve been impressed with his work. I have a healthy respect for him."

Zivic’s last duty day was Friday; he and Toyo depart the island this coming Friday.

He came to Okinawa first in 1967 with the 909th Air Refueling Squadron and flew 259 combat support missions aboard KC-135 Stratotankers. He has lived and worked in Hawaii, Okinawa and Korea in various capacities ever since.

On the court, Zivic received his first International Association Approved Basketball Officials card in 1966 at Riverside, Calif.

His first Pacific high school game was in 1971 at Kubasaki High School on Okinawa. Zivic has since served five years as Okinawa Athletic Officials Association and six years as Korea Sports Officials Association basketball commissioner.

On Jan. 20, 2008, Zivic suffered an on-court heart attack while working a Martin Luther King Invitational Tournament game for interservice teams. Five corpsmen on scene immediately performed lifesaving techniques; Naval Hospital officials later credited them for saving Zivic’s life.

He never worked another basketball game, but rebounded to regain full health. Zivic says he’s looking forward to retirement, but will miss life and refereeing in the Pacific.

"I’ve lived life the way I wanted to with the people I’ve lived with," he said, recounting eight years in Hawaii, six in Korea and the rest on Okinawa. "I can’t imagine living and doing anything else."