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Article Publication Date: 7/11/2005

His smile lights up... the screen

A Chris Larick column...


CHRIS LARICK

I try not to watch commercials, which is probably why it took three years or so of ignoring American Dental commercials before I noticed a familiar face.

Maybe I should say "familiar smile," because that’s what stands out about Joe Hewitt.

Area basketball fans have seen Hewitt at area high school basketball games, though they might not be aware of it. He’s the big, jolly referee who always seems to be having a good time.

"I love the game, love the kids, just love it," Hewitt said. "I put all I can into doing it. I make sure kids never get cheated. They work very hard.

"I did. I didn’t have a lot of talent, but I did what it took."

Hewitt, 46, played power forward, first at St. Ignatius, until his dad died when he was a freshman. He transferred to Collinwood, where he completed his high school career, before moving on to Case Western Reserve, where he played power forward alongside another familiar face in the area, Dean Tsipis, the father of Amanda Tsipis, who starred in basketball at Perry before taking her talents to Notre Dame.

"He was a very good forward," Hewitt said of Dean Tsipis. "He could score and was an all-around good player."

The real star on Case’s team at that time, though, was Ken Jackson, who went on to become the leading all-time scorer for the Spartans.

"I patterned myself after Wes Unseld," Hewitt, who scored about 10 points per game in college, said. "I rebounded, played defense and set picks. I did all the dirty work and was happy to do it.

"I was very strong. I tried to be like Wes Unseld with his outlet passes. He boxed out with ferocity. Dennis Rodman went to the boards, too, but I liked Paul Silas and Dave Cowens. I got the job done and always had fun. I loved the game and was a student of the game."

Hewitt’s world was rocked, though, when his father died on Jan. 19, 1974, when Joe was 14. He remembers that he and his dad watched Austin Carr and Notre Dame end UCLA’s history-best 88-game winning streak, 71-70 on the day his father unexpectedly died.

"The game (of basketball) has been good for me," Hewitt said. "It helped me after my dad died. He was my biggest friend. We went to sports events and watched them on TV."

Hewitt first took up officiating in the late ’70s at Case. He did it off and on after that and has about 15 years in that role now.

"I had a lot of good role models as coaches and refs growing up," he said. "I do it for the love of the game. I’m just trying to give something back to the game.

"The kids are great and the coaches are great."

Hewitt does regret the way parents are becoming violently involved in the game, like the coach-parent who recently beat up a baseball umpire.

"Everything’s getting goofy," he said. "It’s not as much fun. But you can tell when somebody is working hard and when he’s not."

Hewitt worked in sales for WKYC-TV, Ch. 3 for a while, but now runs his own advertising company, JDC Advertising.

He met his wife, the former Maria Lardie, about 10 years ago. Lardie was a great basketball player in her own right, first at Villa Angela-St. Joseph, then at Florida State and later as a professional in Europe. She is the only woman in the VASJ Hall of Fame.

Joe and Maria live in Solon and have two children: a son, Jaylan, 6; and a daughter, Dalayna 4. Joe has another son, Christopher, 20, by a previous marriage. Joe took the name of his company from his children’s first-name initials.

"Jaylan is 4-(foot)-6 now and our pediatrician said he’ll grow to be 6-8, plus he’s really athletic," Hewitt said. "Our 4-year-old should be 6-2 or 6-3 and should be athletic. All I want them to do is take after my mother. My wife is gorgeous and hard-working, too.

"She was Division I at Florida State and I as Division I at Case. She went all over the world to play and I stayed home."

Hewitt looks like a natural on his commercial, but he concedes it took several takes to accomplish.

"(American Dental) has been doing my teeth for years," he said. "I’ve been friends with them for years. I just went in and talked and they kept the camera rolling while I told what it’s like at American Dental."

Why Hewitt?

"I think because I like to smile and laugh a lot," he said. "We had fun doing it. They do a great job there. They have good people; that’s the key. It makes it easier."

Considering Hewitt’s good nature, though, you sort of get the feeling he’d like any dentist who didn’t pull his teeth out by the roots without offering him novocaine.

Larick is a sports writer for the Star Beacon. He can be reached via email at clarick@starbeacon.com. (4860) (1) ()

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