Community Champion: Bobby Dibler headed to hall of fame (again)

Not many people ever get a chance to be named to a hall of fame. Even fewer end up in two.

But Bobby Dibler will become a member of a second hall of fame next month.

Already a member of the El Paso Athletic Hall of fame, Dibler will be inducted into the Panhandle Sports Hall of fame in Amarillo on Feb. 10 after a career as a basketball player and official.

Dibler was a star at Amarillo High School who would later join Don Haskins at Texas Western after playing in junior college.

Interestingly enough, Dibler’s Amarillo team played against Haskins when Haskins was the head coach of Dumas High School.

Dibler would be a key contributor on the 1963-64 Texas Western team which made the NCAA Tournament but lost to Kansas State. Even so, it’s still regarded as one of the best teams in school history.

After his playing days were over, Dibler would go on to become a referee. He officiated more than 1,000 NCAA Division One games including several memorable contests such as the 1982 and 1985 NCAA title games.

“I’m very surprised, very humbled, very lucky, very blessed,” said Dibler of his career.

But he’s still actively involved in officiating in the NCAA ranks. In fact, he is in charge now of about 160 officials across six different conferences (Pac-12, WAC, WCC, Mountain West, Big Sky, and Big West). He heads up a team that grades refs, assigns them to games, and hosts clinics for officials, among other duties.

It’s not the easiest job in the world, but it’s his passion.

“Well, seldom do I get calls from anybody involved in the game, particularly our coaches across the west, telling me what a great job we’ve done,” said Dibler. “But that kind of goes with the territory.”

Dibler says he has a number of people to thank during his speech on Feb. 10 at the Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

One person he’ll certainly be thanking is his college coach, Don Haskins, who is also a member of the Panhandle Sports H.O.F.

“It was very difficult playing for Coach Haskins back in those days because he was pretty tough and very demanding,” said Dibler. “But one of the things that he taught me is discipline for life. But it’s the discipline that you learn that you don’t realize you’re learning at that time that has stuck with me for a lifetime.”