Hey, ref, you did a great job!

Ron Lauters didn’t grow up playing or watching soccer. Even as an adult, he didn’t take an interest in the world’s most popular sport until his son started playing when he was about 8 years old.

Then Lauters embarked on a decades-long endeavor that left an indelible mark on the sport in Port Washington.

Yet many people associated with the sport may never have heard of him. The Port Washington Soccer Club wanted to change that. Last month, Lauters was added to the Wall of Fame on the club’s pavilion at its fields on Spring Street.

“While many readers may not recognize Ron’s name, there’s a good chance they’ve benefited from his work,” Soccer Club President Nicole Martin said. “If you’ve played soccer, had a child who played soccer, volunteered with a club,or simply enjoyed the game in our area over the past four decades, it’s likely Ron had a hand in making that experience possible.”

Lauters got involved with the club through his son Andy. “Like any organization, they were crying for help because nobody can get volunteers,” he said. “We all joke about it. If you want your kid to get involved in a sport, you’ve got to do the grunt work behind the scenes.”

Lauters went on to do more than that.

He started by striping the fields for a few years, then took an officiating class with his son when Andy turned 12.

Back then, just one official would sometimes handle games. His son handled some of the 8, 9 and 10-year-old contests, and Lauters later became an officials assigner, making sure each game had referees.

Before long, Lauters was also doing the same job for the Grafton Soccer Club. These were volunteer positions but not small jobs. Weekend tournaments could include as many as 20 games, and just becoming an official took time.

The Wisconsin Youth Soccer Association requires 20 hours of classes and a score of 75 on a 100-question test for new officials, and a four-to-six-hour class for annual recertification.

“They keep on changing the rules, too. There are so many gray areas,” Lauters said.

One of the most controversial ones he heard about often from parents is offsides.

“They all think they know what it is and they don’t,” he said.

By definition, the offensive player must be even with or behind the second-last defensive player when the ball is played to avoid being offsides.

Lauters managed as many as 40 officials between Port and Grafton, in addition to officiating himself as needed, in addition to officiating high school games during the week.

“I like soccer, I like to be outside and make some money. It’s win-win-win,” he said.

It was especially good money for young referees. “Sixteen dollars for two 12-minute halves. Where is a 12-year-old going to get that kind of money?” he said.

Yet he remembers one of those young officials quitting early on, even turning down an offer of three times his pay, due to treatment by parents.

Lauters has had his run-ins with players, coaches and parents over the years, but they have been few and far between, and he said he developed a thick skin.

He threw out one coach who began arguing before play started.

“He didn’t like the ball,” Lauters said. Once he kept complaining, Lauters told him, “I’m done with you.”

Coaches who get thrown out must leave the field but can stay in the parking lot. Parents cannot be thrown out, but Lauters had a way around that for those who got too obnoxious.

“I either said you have to leave or we’re done playing,” he said.

After the title game of an 11-year-old youth tournament, a mother from the losing team walked across the field to tell him he was the worst official she ever saw.

“The intensity rises in the championship game because everybody’s got to have that plastic trophy,” he said.

He has had positive memories as well of players policing commentary. One girl once told her often-chirping mother to keep quiet during a game.

“I want to hug you,” Lauters thought.

After a Port Washington beat Cedarburg one time in which the Port coach kept yammering the entire game, a few Cedarburg players came to Lauters after the game to thank him and tell him he did a good job.

“You know you did a good job when the losing team thanks you,” he said.

Lauters’ favorite age to coach is 12.

“There’s enough skill and they’re not mouthy,” he said.

He said boys tend to be more physical and faster, while he preferred officiating girls since they are less physical but employ more skill.

Lauters had no interest in venturing into the coaching realm. “That’s probably worse than being a referee,” he said.

Lauters retired from officiating a decade ago when he was 60 and keeping up with the players became a challenge.

“If you’re not close enough to the play, how can you make the call?” he said.

Despite rule changes over the years, Lauters said soccer is “basically the same game” today as it was.

Parents, he said, became more knowledgeable but didn’t get any smarter. Their behavior has followed suit.

“It didn’t get any better. Let’s put it that way,” he said.

Lauters has also helped maintain the Port club’s facility at its 11-acre parcel along Spring Street near the Ozaukee County Justice Center. The land is leased from the city, which paved the parking lot and is being paid back for the work by the club.

A service is paid to cut the grass, weed and fertilize. Doing that work and maintaining the mower would be difficult for the club to handle, Lauters said.

“You’ve got a hard enough time getting people to volunteer,” he said.

One of the biggest changes he has seen is how the fields are striped. Now, an autonomous robotic device does the work.

Having a Wall of Fame to honor the most prolific of the club’s volunteers was Lauters’ plan. The club president at the time told him to run with the idea, and Lauters submitted a bunch of names.

The wall includes Doug Bichler, Mike Bultman, Kent Kohn, Steve Ziebell the Tyree family, Leslie Lanser, Myleen Ziebell and Andrea Cole.

Then Lauters was told he would be joining the group. The recognition is well deserved, Martin said.

“He’s been a referee, referee assigner, field manager, equipment manager, board member, district representative, mentor and trusted resource for countless clubs and volunteers,” she said.

“Behind the scenes, he’s spent thousands of hours making sure fields were ready, games had officials, equipment was available and organizations had the support they needed to provide a great experience for young athletes.”

Lauters grew up on a Town of Port Washington dairy farm, which took time away from participating in sports. He was one of about 100 students who attended Holy Cross school and had 15 in his eighth-grade class. Eleven of those went to Ozaukee High while he was the only male of the remaining four to go to Port.

He met his wife Beth, a Port native, in math class. He worked at the Voeller company in Port in metal fabrication and shipping and receiving, while Beth was parish secretary and bookkeeper at St. Peter of Alcantara in Port. They have two children and three grandchildren.

Lauters isn’t involved with soccer anymore, but he enjoyed his decades on the pitch and attended a World Cup game this summer.

“You’ve got to love it,” he said.