MORAN — Friday’s high school basketball games between host Marmaton Valley and Yates Center may have seemed routine at first blush.
But it marked an opportunity of a lifetime for Iolan Mark Kauth and sons Christian and Adam.
The Kauths comprised the three-man officiating crew, marking the first — and likely only — time all three Kauths will officiate a basketball game together.
“It was a wonderful evening,” Mark Kauth said. “They even recognized us during the game,which we weren’t expecting. The games went smoothly, and we received lots of compliments from the fans and coaches.”
It’s not unusual for a father and son to officiate together. Mark has done so with each Christian and Adam in the past on numerous occasions. He even worked a game with Adam earlier in the week at Southern Coffey County.
“But to work with both siblings at the same time is pretty rare,” he noted.
Christian, who lives and works in Atlanta, flew back home to Kansas solely to get an opportunity to work with his father and brother.
“It was also their first opportunity to work together as well,” Mark noted.
THE KAUTHS have been a part of the officiating community for the past 32 years.
Mark and wife Dianne had been at a local basketball game watching her nephew play, he recalled.
“I was watching from the stands, and it turns out I was making calls without realizing I was making calls,” Mark chuckled. “My wife asked why I wasn’t out there on the floor.”
Not long afterward, she put him in touch with the late Moe Elliott, a longtime educator, coach and referee.
Since then, he’s logged hundreds, maybe thousands, of games across the region.
His sons soon followed in his footsteps. Adam started officiating about 13 years ago when he was a student at Washburn University in Topeka, and even worked as a referee when he lived briefly in Germany, and continued doing so now that he’s back stateside working in Atlanta.
Adam, the younger of the Kauth siblings, followed suit soon about four years ago after his high school days ended.
