You never know who’s watching.
Early in Mark Wunderlich’s officiating career, he would work outdoor men’s league games at Bailey Park in Philadelphia. A highly competitive league that featured a lot of standout college players from the Big 5 schools in Philly. It was there that Joey Crawford would watch him work all summer through his kitchen window as he lived across the street from the park.
After the championship game that summer, Joey finally approached Mark to introduce himself and said “I’ve been looking at you all summer and there is something I like. You have to lose some weight and improve some things but I called my boss and I think I’m going to try to get you an invite to the NBA summer league.” Three days later Mark received a federal express package from the NBA inviting him to try out at Loyola Marymount.
After working 3 years in the CBA Mark would eventually make his NBA debut in 1990. The story comes full circle when Mark got the opportunity to work his first NBA finals with his mentor and the man that discovered his talents, Joey Crawford.
You never know who’s watching.
