In order to stay close to his “favorite hobby,” Opp Councilman Davy Lindsey has dedicated more than 15 years of his life to officiating local sporting events.

From baseball, softball, basketball and some football, Lindsey has watched athletes mature into young men and women.

“I like to be around ball games,” he said. “That’s why I really got hooked up into sports. I can see kids develop from junior high up until high school.”

Lindsey said the best part of his job is helping the kids feel like “a part of the game.”

“The best part is making the kids feel a part of playing a real game,” he said. “When you have to referee or officiate, you have to put some realness into the kids and make them feel a little bit better about the game.

“It adds a little bit to their ball game and makes them feel like they are playing the game for real rather than it being like a pick-up game,” he said.

Lindsey is currently retired and officiates games as often as he can and said he may be a referee for basketball this winter.

His philosophy on officiating is simple.

“When I call baseball, if a team is well ahead and they’re stealing bases, they have to be very clearly safe or they’ll be out,” Lindsey said. “You don’t want to make another person feel bad. You don’t want to give somebody something, but if you had to, it would be somebody that was really down, to encourage them to keep the game going. I like to keep the game where the kids compete for a win.”

Lindsey lives in Opp with his wife, Shirley, and has three children and seven grandchildren.