Alan Maloney just might be the most famous Referee in the world right now for the video of the young African American who he gave an ultimatum to of either forfeit his match or cut his locks off, which unless you were in a coma for the last couple of days you know what happened.  A simple internet search shows that the haircut incident was not Maloney’s first time being in the news for being an alleged racist, in fact, just 2 years prior several witnesses say Maloney was using racial slurs and was confronted by fellow Referee, Preston Hamilton.  Instead of apologizing to Hamilton Maloney poked his finger in Hamilton’s chest and again used the “N” word, which didn’t work out so well for Maloney as Hamilton picked the little man up and slamed him on the ground.

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One would think that the NJSIAA would have banned him from the sport after that incident, especially considering a Referee can have no appearance of being impartial, but they didn’t.  In fact, he is the head Referee for the souther region.  Being a known racist would make anyone, especially those people who are not white, think that Maloney was impartial.

Maloney has been in the news quite a bit in his career.  In the early 1970’s he was a 101 pound wrestler for Edgewood Regional High School who won 2 regional titles, in 73 and 74.  His break from Wrestling wouldn’t last long though because in 1977 Alan Maloney signed on with the NJSIAA in his first year of a long career of being a Referee.

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In 1981 Gateway High School was a big underdog to Camden Catholic and Maloney was the Referee for the meet.  The team score was 21-26 going into the final match and the Gateway Heavyweight needed a pin to win.  Gateway’s George MacAdams faced off against Catholics Mike Elton and in the final minute, MacAdams scored a pin for the victory.  In pure jubilation MacAdams jumped up and threw his head gear off to celebrate the upset as the crowd went wild.  At that moment Maloney raised his hand and penalized Gateway one team point, forcing the teams to tie instead of giving Gateway the victory.

Throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s Maloney would show up in the news here and there, but in 2006 a story came out about Terry Ahern, a fellow Referee in NJ and his displeasure with the way the NJSIAA operates the placement of referees.  Ahern was told he could not referee a match because his brother was the assistant coach of the team.  Ahern though was quick to point out that Maloney was the Referee for a match just weeks before for the team where Maloney is the actual assistant coach who sits on the bench of Eastern.

“It’s not how good you are(as an official), it’s whether you are in with the good ol boys club” said Ahern in a 2006 Courier Post Article.

“Alan Maloney should have said something” said Sam Crosby, assignment judge at that time. Crosby went on “If an official gets an assignment where there is a potentiol conflict, he should refuse it, that’s standard practice”.

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In January of 2016 Maloney was set to Referee Gateway V Haddon Twp. but he was almost 45 minutes late, saying he was stuck in traffic.  NJSIAA Code of Ethics #6 states “Officials shall be punctual and professional in the fulfillment of all contractual obligations.”.

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In March of 2016 Maloney was back in the news again, this time for using a racial slur towards a fellow Referee names Prston Hamilton.  When Hamilton told Maoloney to shut his mouth, Maloney walked up to him and used the slur again while poking Preston in the chest.  Preston, who was a state champion wrestler from Paulsboro, slammed Maloney to the ground after the poke to the chest.  Maloney wasn’t the one to complain though, Preston did and for that they were both suspended only to have both suspensions lifted a short time later.

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In a 2016 Courier Post article Coach Hedley Thame, who is African American, was asked if he’d want Maloney as a Referee “No, I’d prefer not to have that person..you’d have to wonder about the calls”.

But none of this was taken into accunt and Maloney was allowed to just keep on keeping on, which brought us to the infamous night where a young black man was forced to cut his locks in order to participte.  The NJSIAA failed in recognizing Maloney as an issue and it lead up to him bullying a child into making a decison under duress.  I have wrestled over 100 varsity matches in NJ and the time for equipment checks happens before warm ups, not just before the match.  Maloney failed to do his job properly, as did the NJSIAA, and for that a young man was humiliated and dehumanized, but Karma can be a bitch, Mr. Maloney.