A great ump, an even better man

"Come on, ump! You missed the call!"

Imagine the grinding from the grandstands longtime local baseball umpire Fred Atiyeh took in three decades behind the plate.

Forget the fact he was a top-notch game caller and an even better man. Precision and ethics mean nothing to baseball fans, who know it's their God-given right, indeed their duty, to razz the umpire at every opportunity.

Like all good umps, Atiyeh knew the chiding came with the territory. Once you cross the chalk lines, the two-bit comedy club is open for business and the ump is part of every punch line.

"Ump, you donkey! You couldn't call hogs!"

When I learned that the affable Atiyeh had finished life's ballgame at age 84, I thought about all the catcalls that were hurled like errant spitballs at him over the years and several thousand games. From Little League and high school, to UNLV and the regionals of the College Baseball World Series, Atiyeh kept his mask on and his eyes fixed on the game. For an amateur ump, he was a real pro.

Fred and Juanita Atiyeh in 1959 drove their young family to Las Vegas from Portland, Ore. Fred opened a Chevron station at Charleston Boulevard and Maryland Parkway. He was an honest broker to casino kings and common folk.

In his spare time he coached and umpired baseball. At the station he met baseball coach Fred Dallimore, who was starting a career at UNLV that would span a quarter century and 1,352 ballgames.

They were friends off the field, but they argued like the Bickersons when the game was on. Although Dallimore's teams won 794 games during his career, he never prevailed in an argument with Atiyeh.

"Freddie was always under control," Dallimore recalls by phone from his Reno home. "He'd give you as much rope as you could take, but if you went too far he'd give you the boot. We were always friends, but when we argued he got to stay in the game, and I got to go watch the ballgame on the other side of the fence. He knew the game. He knew the rules. And he enforced them."

That's something that's easy to forget about umpires and amateur sports. They can teach young people that games have rules and actions have consequences. No matter how often Little League lawyers and hovering moms and dads intervene, daily life is full of winning and losing and learning to play the game with integrity. Participating in sports can be a wonderful introduction to life's realities on a small scale.

A good umpire can have as great an impact on young lives as a good teacher. Atiyeh's own life was devoted to such principles.

Along the way, as former UNLV baseball sports information director Jim Gemma recalls, Atiyeh kept his sense of humor.

"Once in a blowout game years ago at Barnson Field on a cold February afternoon, I spoke with Fred briefly after the game where he had a generous strike zone and a couple of called third strikes in the ninth inning," Gemma says. "I asked him about that expanded strike zone and he said he had to get home because his wife was cooking pot roast and boiled potatoes."

A celebration of Fred Atiyeh's life is scheduled for 5 p.m. Sept. 4 at the Clark County Firefighters Union Hall at 6200 W. Charleston Blvd. Forget the dirges. I hope they play "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."

Players and coaches sometimes questioned his eyesight, but no one ever doubted Fred Atiyeh's devotion to the game.

They'll miss your calls, ump.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. Reach him at 702 383-02905, or jsmith@reviewjournal.com. On Twitter: @jlnevadasmith.