‘He was a rock’: GHSA officiating executive remembered for impact, character

There will be an unwelcome vacancy at the table near the baseline when the GHSA hosts the state basketball championships this season. That spot is where Ernie Yarbrough would sit and watch each year.

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Yarbrough, who died at age 76 on Saturday, would be stationed at the table throughout the GHSA playoffs, sometimes welcoming guests and dignitaries and otherwise answering questions and solving problems. Occasionally he would get to watch a little basketball.

“It’s going to be hard to sit there without Ernie,” said former GHSA executive director Robin Hines.

Because most of his work was conducted behind the scenes, Yarbrough’s name may be unknown to most of the public. But he left an indelible mark on multiple generations of student-athletes, particularly those who played basketball, softball and flag football. He served as the officiating guru for the GHSA since 1992, but his influence on sports goes far beyond a whistle and a rules book.

“It’s just such a loss, for his family, for the state of Georgia,” said Gainesville girls basketball coach Jan Azar said. “I think of it more from a basketball standpoint, but just all sports in general. I can remember going to Columbus when I was coaching softball and there was Ernie. He was just the face of the GHSA to me and for so many coaches because Ernie was always there to help give us advice and mentor us.”

Yarbrough began to work with the GHSA in 1992 as a basketball rules interpreter and in 1997 as a softball rules interpreter. He joined the GHSA on a full-time basis in 2001 and served as assistant executive director and coordinator of officiating. He retired in 2024 but remained in an advisory role.

“It’s been a blessing for us to work together for the past 10 years and just become the best of friends,” Hines said. “When I came in, he just took the assumption that it was going to be a good thing and we just worked well together from the absolute first day. He has a heart for kids and a heart for people.”

Hines called Yarbrough his best friend and Azar said a lot of coaches felt the same way.

“Everyone felt like Ernie was their best friend,” Azar said. “He had that way of making you feel — and he meant it too — that he’d do anything for anyone. For any coach or anyone within the GHSA, he was just an advocate.”

Former St. Pius basketball coach and athletic director Mark Kelly remembered Yarbrough being “firm, but fair, and always very good” as an official.

“But more of my memories of him are with the GHSA,” Kelly said. “He was a rock. He was the foundation. Names and policies and faces would change, but Ernie was always there and he was kind of the glue that kept it all together and kept it centered. He was a worker bee. I mean he did everything and in any organization, you need those kinds of people.”

Yarbrough also served as a staunch advocate for women’s sports.

“Being a female coach and coaching girls’ sports, you always felt like Ernie was on your side,” Azar said. “He just wanted the best for all the kids. I can’t ever remember having a negative interaction with Ernie. He was for the coaches and for the kids and for the state.”

Born in California and raised in Owasso, Oklahoma, Yarbrough joined the U.S. Navy after graduation from high school and served on a submarine during the Vietnam War. After being discharged, he played football at San Diego University and was one of the nation’s top receivers. His 1,102 yards receiving in 1973 set a school record and still ranks fifth-best in school history.

He tried to catch on with a professional football team, but ultimately decided to turn his attention to scouting and coaching. He worked in player development for three different NFL franchises for more than 13 years. He was a high school coach in California for eight years and coached football and basketball at the college level for 10 years.

For more than 50 years he was involved as a player, coach and administrator for USA Softball and helped popularize fast-pitch softball in Georgia. He served as commissioner for USA Softball Georgia and helped coach the 2019 USA Junior Team to a gold medal at the Pan Am Championships in Colombia. He was a founder of the Atlanta Vipers and the Georgia Power Softball Club and was known for player development, with an emphasis on fundamentals and character. He was inducted into the Georgia Softball Hall of Fame in 2016.

He was the American Basketball League’s director of officiating from 1996-99 and remained active as an observer and rater of officials for multiple conferences, including the ACC, the Southern Conference and the Big South.

He received multiple national honors, including the 2024 Mel Narol Medallion for his contributions to education, training and promotion of officiating from the National Association of Sports Officials. He was the Naismith High School Official of the Year in 1995 and recipient of the National Federation of High Schools’ Citation in 2023 for significant contributions to high school athletics.

Yarbrough was pivotal in the growth of flag football and helped secure grants and expand participation around the state. Hines said when the GHSA made the decision to sanction flag football, Yarbrough volunteered to push it forward.