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Former NBHS football player hired as Big 10 Conference refBy Barbara Brown Former North Branch High School football player Jon Lucivansky has been hired by the Big 10 Conference to referee football games. Lucivansky, now an associate principal at Eau Claire North High School graduated from North Branch in 1981. After graduation he started officiating for youth leagues. ìI seemed like a way to make a little cash and stay involved in athletics,î he said. Lucivansky then started working for the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 1988 and continued his referee career to the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. In 1988 he moved to the North Central Conference, what he calls the best division II football conference in the country. Officials from Minnesota who are picked to go to the Big 10 usually are hired from their work in the North Central Conference, Lucivansky said. Lucivansky said the appointment to referee is a 20 year project that has finally come to fruition. He applied to be a Big 10 ref when he started working for the North Central Conference. After years of working, talking to other referees and networking through the system, Lucivansky was invited for an interview with Big 10. Lucivansky was chosen about a month ago as one of seven staff members hired from a pool of 1,800 applicants from one of the eight states that make up the Big 10 Conference. He said he will referee three or four Big 10 games and he expects his responsibility to increase next year to include some big name competitions like a Michigan or Ohio State game. ìIt didnít really hit me until last Sunday night when I started getting sleepy,î Lucivansky said. ìThen I just went ëWowí and started thinking of all the miles Iíd put in on this journey.î When Lucivansky finally steps onto that Big 10 field this fall he said he will surely feel the electricity that is generated by a crowd of fans cheering on their team. ìI know that my parents, particularly Dad, are going to be extremely proud,î he said. ìVery few people get to do something they truly love ñ something they set a goal for and follow through on.î Lucivansky lives in Rice Lake, Wisc., with his wife Jackie and two children, four-year-old Mark and six-month-old Manuela. He is the son of Lavonne and Dick Lucivansky of Lindstrom. ©ECM Post Review |