Gilbert, Rico GA: Officiating Is an Art & a Science

A Referee Known Nationwide as Rico

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By Bill X. Barron 

Officials are charged with a responsibility to fairly prescribe the assigned rules, actively protect participant safety, and tirelessly preserve the integrity of the sport. Especially at the youth level, they are educators who embrace sportsmanship, celebrate character, and promote understanding.

One referee, Tim Gilbert of Georgia – known across the country as “Rico” – exemplifies this combination of purpose and patience, balancing officiating with work off the mat as a DJ and as a master chef. His college nickname arose from his “rich personality, wavy hair, and dance moves” which he attributes to roots that came from two black grandmothers whose spouses were American Indian and Irish.

Rico thanks his older brother Randy for suggesting that he try out for wrestling, which he did as a 98-pound freshman. He had considered basketball, but “my brother told me to go out for wrestling, because you wrestle your own weight and it’s 1-on-1.”

This turned out to be the right decision, as Rico became Wando (SC) High’s first state champion (at 126 lbs.) and their first to earn a college wrestling scholarship.

Moving to Georgia in May of 1989, he served as a volunteer community coach at Camden County High School, Kingsland, GA. That season he questioned the performance of some of those assigned to officiate his team’s matches, so the Jacksonville, FL assigner of officials challenged and invited him to join their association, which he initially turned down due to his commitment to his team.

However, after watching one of his juniors in the state finals denied the takedown he needed for victory at the end of the 3rd period, he was told by his wrestler’s mom: “The referee told me that kid is a senior trying to get a scholarship and your son’s a junior with another year.”

The following season Camden’s head coach wanted to try coaching the team on his own, so Rico decided to join the Northern Florida Wrestling Officials Association.

Taking his new role seriously, Rico drove from Georgia to Florida every Sunday for rules meetings, “because if I was going to be an official, I wanted to be good at it.” Early on in his career on the mat, Rico embraced the value of humility. “Self-evaluation is one my biggest tools; when I miss something, I know it and immediately I make adjustments.”

In 1997, Rico founded the Southeast GA Wrestling Officials Association. Now thirty years into his career, most recently as a lead official for the 2019 Super 32 high school finals, Tim Gilbert was nominated by the state of Georgia for the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, into which he will be a 2020 inductee in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

His son Timothy II has followed his footsteps in Georgia as an aspiring young official; like his father, he is already a stand-out known for his poise and quickness.

For the past eight years, Rico has served on the Georgia High School Wrestling Advisory Committee, held camps to train officials, helped established a statewide evaluation process, and pushed the state association to create a separate girls state championship. His approach is based on “constantly trying to learn each time you are on – and off – the mat.”

Outside of officiating, Rico has trained hundreds of area wrestlers for no compensation, including over twenty Georgia high school state championship finalists. Rico states: “I just want to make a difference.”  

Rico volunteers his efforts to improve wrestling wherever he can. “I never made it about money, which I believe made me a more efficient and solid young official early in my career. Traveled, watched, studied others – and still do. You can only get better!” 

Revered for his technical excellence and adept maneuvering, always in the right position with the art of a maestro conducting an orchestra, Rico also connects at the heart level with athletes, coaches, and fellow officials. “While we have to be firm in applying the rules,” he states, “we also need to understand the human side of the sport, one which requires compassion.” 

“As an official, I am conscious of doing my best, trying not making a mistake that will cost anyone the match,” relates Rico.

Just the same, Rico believes that “if a referee makes a mistake, he or she should own up to it. Don’t make officiating about you. It’s about the athletes who are competing, the many hours they put in, as well as the time that coaches, parents, and family members devote to our sport of wrestling.”

In Rico’s mind, an official’s most important responsibility is to “arm yourself with knowing the rules as they are written and understood, while also relating them to the action on the mat. Enforce safety while also encouraging sportsmanship and applying discipline.

“After a potentially dangerous or illegal hold, explain to the wrestler what s/he did wrong. We have an obligation to help them understand what they can do differently.”

For Rico, “Officiating comes naturally for me and I welcome pressure situations. In that vein, I can easily flip the switch during an event, taking roles as commentator or as DJ for the music. For a couple of years, in between officiating, I commentated and served as DJ for all the music at the Georgia High School State Championships.

Rico encourages colleagues who seek improvement to “work the best tournaments like Rocky Mountain Nationals Events. I applaud RMN for all the opportunities they give officials across the country to officiate at the highest level.

“Their competition is far greater than any other wrestling organization. RMN leadership is on point, always looking for ways that officials can improve as well as listening to their suggestions.”

RMN officials not only experience a “unique opportunity to improve their skills while working with colleagues from across the nation, but they also experience camaraderie.” As chef extraordinaire of the mid-tournament banquet for the RMN-NUWAY Freak Show’s 55 officials from 17 states, Rico contributes firsthand to the welcoming atmosphere!

Rico asserts: “If wrestling is to survive, then coaches, officials, athletes, teams, and states all need to work with each other. With an RMN Event, you find that Ed Gutierrez and his family are good people; people who are involved with everyone, cite a prayer, and have a personal touch. Everyone can learn from their example.”