| Overall UK Wins: 1 | Overall UK Losses: 1 | Win % 50 |
Date of Death: November 3, 2013
Hometown: Wyckoff, NJ
For a generalized listing of officials, please consult this page.
Date | Matchup | W/L | Score | UK Fouls | Opp Fouls | UK FTA | Opp FTA | UK DQ | Opp DQ | Technicals | Officiating Crew |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3/16/1976 | Kentucky vs. Kansas State | W | 81 - 78 | 18 | 23 | 18 | 16 | 0 | 1 | - | Ed Cartotto and Charlie Diehl |
12/26/1981 | Kentucky vs. North Carolina | L | 69 - 82 | 18 | 14 | 15 | 21 | 1 | 1 | None | Larry Lembo, Mickey Crowley and Ed Cartotto |
Obituary - Passaic (NJ) Herald-News (November 8, 2013)
Edgar Cartotto, College Hoops Referee
Also led JFK High English Department
by Jay Levin (Staff Writer)
Edgar Cartotto, a high school English teacher who gained renown outside the classroom by running up and down the hardwood as a college basketball referee, died Sunday. The Wyckoff resident was 82.
The cause was congestive heart failure, said his wife, Marion.
Mr. Cartotto became a referee at his mother's suggestion. He didn't play sports while growing up in Paterson because of a medical condition, and his mother saw officiating as a way for him to stay involved, his wife said.
He put in 55 years as a referee, supervisor and rules interpreter, all the while rising to head of the English department in Paterson's John F. Kennedy High School.
Mr. Cartotto officiated in the Big East, ECAC-Metro and East Coast conferences as well as the Ivy League and worked 10 NCAA Tournaments and 14 National Invitational Tournaments. From 1987 to 2009, he was coordinator of men's basketball officials for the Northeast Conference, which includes Fairleigh Dickinson University and formerly included Monmouth University.
Ran Officiating Camps
He also ran summer camps for high school and college officials.
Tim Higgins, who retired as a college basketball referee last year, called Mr. Cartotto a mentor.
"Edgar was smarter than everybody else," said Higgins, who lives in Ramsey. "He always knew the score and the time, and he knew the implication of every call he would make."
Mr. Cartotto summed up his officiating philosophy when The Record profiled him, Higgins and another well-regarded ref, Ed Stohmeyer, in 1985.
"You have to be human; it's a people's game," Mr. Cartotto said. "You must have enormous patience and flexibility."
His patience was once tested during the opening minutes of a game between Georgetown and Maryland when he was hit in the head with a beer. Rather than go after the fan who threw it from the stands, Mr. Cartotto went on the P.A. and asked that no more beer be thrown, for the safety of the the players. (He was doused again at halftime.).
To stay in shape, he walked on the track at Paterson's Hinchliffe Stadium, while working games, he was known for his heavy fragrance of liniment. Marion Cartotto said her husband endured the physical rigors of officiating and the travel "for the love of the game."
"He loved the rules, and he loved being the interpreter," she said.
Mr. Cartotto received the 1994 Preseason NIT Officials Award, which honors outstanding contributions to college basketball by past and present officials.
Besides his wife of 54 years, Mr. Cartotto is survived by his children, Karen Keough of Marblehead, Mass.; Sharon Scordato Wyckoff, Kevin Cartotto of Glen Rock and Lauren Johnson of Wyckoff; and nine grandchildren.
Arrangements were by Festa Memorial Funeral Home, Totowa.