Officials

Tom O’Neill, Sr.

Year Inducted: 2002

Category: Officials

Schools / Organizations:
IHSA
NCAA
NBA

Biography:

Tom O’Neill really started something when he began a 20-year high school basketball officiating career. That helped pave the way for a long and illustrious Division I career that ended in 2020 and included a stint as an NBA official.

During his high school career, O’Neill officiated 19 IHSA Regionals and 6 IHSA Sectionals. One of the sectional games that sticks out, was a matchup featuring Maywood Proviso East’s Doc Rivers battling Westchester St. Joseph’s Isiah Thomas.

O’Neill’s high school officiating gave way to a 44-year NCAA Division I career with more than 3,300 games. He officiated NCAA championship games in 1997 (Kentucky vs. Arizona) and 2009 (Michigan State vs. North Carolina) and Final Four semifinals in 1991 (Duke’s upset of unbeaten defending champion UNLV) and 2007 (Florida vs. UCLA). 

The following Division I conferences called on his services: Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, Atlantic 10, Pac-10, Conference USA, Sun Belt, WAC, Mountain West and Metro. He officiated milestone victories for Louisville’s Denny Crum (600), Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim (500), Indiana’s Bob Knight (500) and Valparaiso’s Homer Drew (700).

O’Neill’s sons Rick and Tom Jr., became Division I referees and his son Mike became a high school referee. Tom, Rick and Tom Jr., became the first family to work a Division I game together on Nov. 8, 2000 at DePaul and they also worked the Marquette-Houston Baptist game on Nov. 30, 2001.

O’Neill spent one season working games in the NBA in 1989-90, but when the league changed its travel requirements for officials he returned to the college ranks for good. 

O’Neill went to Northern Illinois University on a baseball scholarship and started his officiating career in intramural games. He worked in the NIU sports information office for IBCA Hall of Famer Bud Nangle and was inducted into the NIU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010. O’Neill was also inducted into the Chicago 16-Inch Softball Hall of Fame in 2000.