Kearney, Neb. - Starting in May 2014, a new feature called "Loper Reconnection" will profile former UNK student-athletes. Student Andrew Hanson asks the chosen Loper a series of questions.

The 12th subject is former basketball player John Higgins.

Wrestlers Bryce Abbey and Brian Hagan, Darcie Berry (softball), Justin Coleman and Jay Dostal (football), Jenni Luke (volleyball), Diane Davidson Rouzee (softball & volleyball), Nick Svehla & Mike Hancock (men's basketball), Jade Meads (women's basketball) and Karol McKenzie Nelson (track) were previously profiled.

Higgins helped the Lopers win 103 games between 1980-83 and reach the NAIA National Tournament in Kansas City four times.

Name: John Higgins
Hometown/High School: Omaha/Omaha Cathedral
Years: 1980-83
Sport: Basketball
 
 
John Higgins is no stranger to the Final Four.
 
He's been one of 10 referees assigned to college basketball's biggest stage, six times. During the 2013 NCAA Division I championship game between Louisville and Michigan, he was one of three officials calling the game.
 
But long before Higgins was officiating Final Fours with teams like Duke, Kentucky and Connecticut, he was playing in one.
 
In 1982, Kearney State College took on Biola College (Calif.) in an NAIA Tournament Final Four game. The Lopers fell short, 85-74, and then lost a close consolation game to Hampton College (Va.), 98-94.
 
Nonetheless, it was a stellar season for KSC and Higgins.
 
"It was a great run. It was pretty surreal," Higgins recalled. "We were a really deep, good team. We had five guys who could score any night."
 
The 1982 team had five All-CSIC (Central States Intercollegiate Conference) players, including first-team selections Pete Anderson and Doug Holtmeier who was an NAIA All-American that season.
  
"I was a bench guy. I came off the bench when I played. I'm a much better referee than I was a basketball player," Higgins said with a laugh.
 
Higgins' career as a referee also began at KSC when he was a senior in 1983.
 
"My first time ever refereeing was when I was a senior, and the freshmen team was playing a junior college and the referees didn't show," said Higgins. "Coach (Jerry) Hueser said we were going to get $ 25 to referee a game, and I raised my hand. That was the first time I ever did it."
 
After graduating, Higgins returned to Omaha and went into business. That was when a friend showed him a little more about refereeing.
 
There he was officiating rec leagues in Omaha, mainly third through sixth graders.
 
Then in 1987, Higgins went to camp – refereeing camp.
 
"I had a friend that told me I had to go to this camp, so I went to it and I had no idea what these were about," Higgins said about the Missouri Valley Conference camp. "There were 100 guys there, and I did the camp but didn't think much about it and came home."
 
It was after that camp, the one he didn't know about until he arrived, that Higgins' fiancé, who is now his wife of 25 years, received a call.
 
"She said some guy name Dave Phillips called," Higgins said.
 
Phillips was not only a Major League Baseball umpire, but he also happened to be head of the Missouri Valley Conference officials.

"He called and said, 'I want to hire you,'" Higgins added.
 
Shortly thereafter, John Erickson hired Higgins to work Big Eight Conference games. "Just every year my schedule has increased, and I now work in seven or eight leagues," he said. "The majority of what I work is the Big 12 and Missouri Valley, but I'll work the Big Ten, Pac-12, Mountain West, Big East.
 
"It's been a wild ride. I never thought I would work third or fourth grade games and then junior high and highs games and the next thing I know I'm in Division I basketball."
 
Today, Higgins typically will work 90-95 games. The 2014-15 season began for him in Los Angeles and ended in Indianapolis with a match between Wisconsin and Kentucky. He did get to officiate two games in Omaha during the NCAA Tournament, which allowed Higgins to stay close to home, a rarity for him from November to April.
 
"I have a wife of 25 years who has supported me the whole way. That's a big part of it," Higgins said.
 
Higgins, who also owns a couple of businesses in Omaha, credits his team for running the operation during the basketball season. "I have good people that work for me and run it when I'm gone. That's a big deal," he added.
 
Higgins still remembers when he got the first call to work a Final Four, though. It's an achievement that had been his goal, but it was also an indicator that he was doing his job well and right.
 
He still vividly remembers walking out of the tunnel and into the arena for the first time at the Final Four, too.
 
"The first time I did it, I walked out and there was 75,000 people there and you just kind of pinch yourself that you're actually going to referee a basketball game," Higgins recalled. "I remember my boss saying, 'There's no pressure fellas. Just 75,000 people in there and 80 million watching on TV."
 
No pressure.
 
A little bit of a different stage than the Final Four he played in in 1982.
 
"You don't think about it as a player. You don't think about the stage really or having any kind of pressure as a player. I don't remember any of that," said Higgins. "You just want to get to the national championship game.
 
"With refereeing I think it's the same but different. You're not really competing against the other refs. You're doing the best that you can to get to the Final Four."
 
With the size and scope of arenas today, Higgins admitted he doesn't really hear much of what goes on outside of the court. "The arenas are so large and full of so many people you really don't hear one individual person," he said.
 
And on the occasion someone in the bleachers does stand out, "I just block it out. You've got to keep focused," said Higgins. "If you worry about things other than your game, you're going to have a real problem.
 
Having now refereed five of the last six Final Fours, Higgins has certainly come a long way from the day Coach Hueser was scrambling around the Cushing Coliseum with twenty-five bucks in his hand.
 
"It's been a crazy ride," Higgins said. "But it's been a fun ride, that's for sure."