 Don Adam (right) presents the Mark Rudolph Award to Ron Foyt (left). |
 L to R: NCHC Commissioner Josh Fenton, NCHC officiating supervisor Mike Schmitt, NCHC Director of Officiating Don Adam, award recipient Ron Foyt, award namesake Mark Rudolph and NCHC officiating supervisor Derek Shepherd |
 Ron Foyt's family was in attendance for the presentation Saturday. |
SAINT PAUL, Minn. - Ron Foyt of New Brighton, Minn. has been named the fifth recipient of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference’s (NCHC) Mark Rudolph Officiating Achievement Award for the 2017-18 season, NCHC Director of Officiating Don Adam has announced. Foyt, an International Falls, Minn. native, completed his fifth season as an NCHC officiating supervisor in 2017-18 and was presented with the award on Saturday night, Sept. 22 at NCHC Referee Camp in Saint Paul, Minn. Much of the NCHC officiating staff, as well as Commissioner Josh Fenton, were in attendance for the presentation, along with Foyt’s family. Foyt is the first conference supervisor of officials to receive the award.
Foyt, also known by his race car nickname “AJ,” played his high school hockey in International Falls before moving on to the University of Minnesota. While at Minnesota, Foyt played for coaching great Herb Brooks and was teammates with former North Dakota and Omaha head coach Dean Blais, along with future Hartford Whaler and friend, Mike Antonovich. While Foyt enjoyed some success early on as a player, it was officiating where Foyt would make his mark moving forward.
In 1973 following college, it is believed that Foyt was the first Minnesotan to sign a professional officiating contract when he joined the World Hockey Association (WHA) as a linesman. Foyt worked games in the WHA from 1973 to 1979 and following the WHA’s merger with the NHL in 1979, Ron was one of only six WHA officials selected to join the NHL’s officiating staff.
From 1979 to 1985, Foyt manned the lines in the National Hockey League where he worked with WHA travel partners and some of the NHL’s all-time greats, such as lifelong friend Ray Scapinello, as well as Gord Broseker and John D’Amico. Foyt, who worked over 800 professional games, never missed one assignment during his career while working in both the NHL and WHA. He also holds one special NHL distinction, which to this day has not been repeated to our knowledge.
On January 15, 1983, NHL officials Ron Fournier and Ron Asselstine were bogged down in a snow storm while attempting to get to their game in Hartford, Conn. Fifteen minutes before the game between the Whalers and the New Jersey Devils was to begin, Foyt inherited referee responsibilities and he set out to find some officiating partners. Foyt would be joined by a pair of unlikely linesmen; Devils’ enforcer Garry Howatt, who was recovering from a knee injury, and his partner for a period, the Whalers’ Mickey Volcan, who had injured his hand earlier in the day. Although Foyt’s real partners arrived for the second period, Ron tutored Volcan and Howatt well enough that they all survived the first period together. Foyt admitted many years later that he was a better linesman than a referee.
After manning the lines in the NHL, Foyt became the Western Collegiate Hockey Association’s (WCHA) Supervisor of Officials, a post that he held for six seasons prior to departing in 1994. Foyt was responsible for the hiring of many of the WCHA’s top officials, several of whom continued to officiate for many years after his departure. Foyt was a tireless worker who was ahead of his time from an instructional and teaching standpoint, while working non-stop to acquire equipment and apparel for his officials, when it had not previously been done.
Foyt has been an officiating supervisor with the NCHC from its inception and has participated in each of the conference’s five Frozen Faceoff championship tournaments. When professional hockey returned to Minnesota, Foyt became one of two video replay officials – a role that he has held from the day the Wild came to Minnesota. Foyt remains involved with the Minnesota NHL Alumni Association and their charitable efforts to put life-saving devices (AED machines) in local hockey rinks. And while he self-admittedly is unable to produce a recognizable mustache, Foyt remains very active in the NCHC Officiating Staff’s Movember fundraising efforts.
“I’ve been around hockey for a long time, have experienced hockey at every level and I’ve simply never met anybody that loves hockey as much as ‘AJ’ does. At times I’ve explained to Ron that I’ve needed a break from hockey, only to receive a phone call ten minutes later inquiring as to whether or not my break was long enough,” NCHC Director of Officiating Don Adam said. “Ron’s passion is contagious and his attention to detail is never ending; the NCHC Officiating Program is in a much better place today because of Ron’s tireless contributions over the course of our five seasons and I applaud his lifetime of contributions to officiating.”
In addition to Foyt’s accomplishments with the NHL, WHA and WCHA, he was also a key contributor in the building of the USA Hockey Officiating Program. He officiated in the trend at the time, Roller Hockey International, while also serving as the National Referee in Chief for USA Hockey Inline.
“It is our honor to award Ron Foyt the 2017-18 Mark Rudolph Officiating Award. For someone who has officiated at the highest level in hockey, Ron is incredibly humble and he’s a true champion of the NCHC,” NCHC Commissioner Josh Fenton said. “Always with a great attitude, Ron will do whatever it takes for the benefit of the NCHC and college hockey. We are very lucky that he is a part of our conference!”
Ron and his wife of 43 years, Roxy, a retired special education teacher, have two grown children; daughter Brienne and son Ryan, all of whom were in attendance for Foyt’s presentation.
The NCHC’s Mark Rudolph Officiating Achievement Award is named in honor of Mark Rudolph, a long-time official and distinguished administrator who resides in Colorado Springs, Colo. and established USA Hockey’s National Officiating Program, among many other accomplishments. The award is presented annually to a member of the NCHC officiating staff following each season at officiating camp.
"When I started as the first Officiating Program Director for USA Hockey in the summer of 1982, I received many letters of congratulations from my friends back East, but one person stood out. ‘AJ’ called and mentioned that we met a few times while he was in Buffalo working the Sabres games. He offered to help the National Officiating Program in any way possible. At the time, the entire Program consisted of a rule book and an open book rules exam. The next year, I started writing the manuals and developing the summer camps. Of course, Ron was one of the first people I called to solicit advice and help. He was there in 1982 and has always been the first person to raise his hand whenever help was needed,” added Mark Rudolph, the award’s namesake. “His fingerprints are all over college hockey and the USA Hockey Officiating Program. He is a true mentor and a lifelong friend!"
Criteria for the Mark Rudolph Officiating Achievement Award recipient shall be an individual who, through dedicated effort and service, both on and off the ice, has achieved a distinguished accomplishment during the previous NCHC season, and who by his actions has significantly enhanced the NCHC and its officiating program.
PREVIOUS MARK RUDOLPH OFFICIATING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD WINNERS
--NCHCHockey.com--