He’s met Dick Vitale and Lance Armstrong, run along side Paul Pierce, T.J. Ford and Fred Hoiberg, and has been in the presence of coaching greats such as Bobby Knight, Roy Williams and Eddie Sutton. But it’s the little people he came up through the system with that mean the most to this Division I referee.

In addition to being a Division-1 ref, Randy Heimerman is also the Intramural Sports Personnel Coordinator. This job, which involves teaching and training intramural refs, was held by Heimerman’s mentor and current Intramural Director, Garry Greenlee.

“Garry taught Randy everything he knows,” Intramural Sports Coordinator Linda Marticke said.

Marticke isn’t the only person who realizes this. Heimerman does too, and he has given respect where respect is due.

“When Garry was in this position, he did a great job at training me,” Heimerman said. “He is one of the best trainers of officials in the entire country.”

Heimerman has been affiliated with Iowa State since 1989 when he was a freshman student in Ames. He has been refereeing since 1990 – his sophomore year – when he took classes with Greenlee.

Greenlee knew Heimerman was going to be special.

“When we would start the students out with little drills, he did it once and the first time he did it, he did it well,” Greenlee said. “He seemed to be just a natural at officiating altogether; he had an interest from day one, and you could just tell he was going to be an official someday.”

At the ripe age of 25, Heimerman worked his first D-1 game, because the original referees couldn’t show up because of a snowstorm. It just so happens that his first game refereeing was at Hilton Coliseum during the 1994-95 season when the Cyclones played the Drake Bulldogs. Heimerman made the trip up from Wichita, Kan. where he was receiving his master’s degree, and he went to work.

Heimerman worked the crowd right into a fury.

His first ever call at the D-1 level was for a hand check against legendary Cyclone, Fred Hoiberg in Hilton Coliseum, during the intra-state rivalry game. Heimerman said the boos poured down on him from the stands.

“After I look back on it now, it was a horrible call,” Heimerman said.

Heimerman works every Saturday and sometimes during the week in eight conferences: the Big 12, Big Ten, Missouri Valley, Conference USA, Horizon, Ohio Valley, Sun Belt and Southland.

However, to him, the most gratifying aspect of being a referee is helping students.

“I like giving back to the people who gave me a shot, and I like giving back to the game of basketball by training and teaching,” Heimerman said. “Taking a brand new student, developing him into a new referee and getting him ready for the real world [is the most rewarding aspect of my job]”

Dan Teece, one of Heimerman’s former trainees at Iowa State, has gone on to Division I status as well. Teece graduated from Iowa State in 2001 and is now at Creighton University in Omaha working on his doctorate in physical therapy.

Teece attributes a large part of his success and pursuit of refereeing to Heimerman.

“If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be D-I right now,” Teece said. “He has easily been the most influential person from an officiating standpoint in my life. He gave me different opportunities like junior high and junior varsity games while I was at ISU – he really pushed me.”

Initially, Teece was going to work intramurals because he needed some extra cash, but Heimerman realized his talent and told him to go down to Tulsa and participate in the Division I referee camp. Teece went, and was one of 10 prospects chosen.

At an even younger age than Heimerman was, Teece became a Division I referee at 23.

And his first ever game just happened to be with his teacher, Randy Heimerman.

“One of the proudest moments of my career was working with Dan on his first game,” Heimerman said.

When he walked out on the floor before the game and saw the 13,000 fans, Teece looked at Heimerman and said, “I feel like I’m gonna throw up.”

“Working with him, though, made the situation a hell of a lot more comfortable for me,” Teece said.

Heimerman has taken on a challenge even greater than refereeing Division 1 games – raising a family. He has just had a baby boy with his wife, Jill, and is learning to handle all the responsibilities.

“Sometimes it’s hard to balance the family with the traveling,” Heimerman said. “But I have a very supportive wife who understands that sometimes I can’t be at certain events. Without her, it would be much more difficult to officiate college basketball.”