Carol Bodie, pictured with the other inductees for 2018
By Valerie Sliker, courtesy Wagener Monthly
Former WSHS graduate Carol Hoover Bodie was inducted into the South Carolina Basketball Officials Association (SCBOA) Hall of Fame on March 28, 2018, becoming the first woman ever to be inducted. Bodie is a trailblazer in the world of SC high school sports. She was the first female in the state to officiate a high school state final. In 2006, she was awarded as girls’ basketball official of the year and she was the first woman to officiate an all-star game. She’s not sure how many state finals she has done in her 26 years of officiating, but it’s been more than a few.
Previously, Bodie has served three years as a district director and three years as an assistant district director in the SCBOA, responsible for the training and the education of officials, as well as scheduling officials for sub-varsity games, scrimmages, jamborees and holiday tournament games. In SC, varsity scheduling is administered by the SC High School League. The better the official, the better game he or she gets to officiate.
Bodie officiates varsity basketball and volleyball. SCBOA’s regulations prevent officials from officiating varsity basketball games at their alma mater, so she has not officiated a game at WSHS; however, Bodie has officiated several varsity volleyball games here. She’s been calling high school volleyball for 16 years and she did the lines in college volleyball for 2 years.
“I’ve made a lot of friends over the years,” Bodie said, referring to other officials. “They’re like family.” It is this “family” that Bodie credits for getting her through her husband’s recent illness and death after nearly 40 years of marriage.
Suffering with pancreatic cancer, her husband, Tom Bodie, asked her to continue officiating after his passing, as a means to keep busy and happy. She thought about retiring when he became ill. “I wish I had started younger,” she says. “I was 34 when I started, I’m 60 now.”
Bodie continued, “I’m not sure how much longer I can do it. I’m getting older. I can still keep up with them pretty good, I do alright. I do as well as some of the guys I call with. I do it for fun, especially with Tom gone now. During the summer games, a lot of times, we’ll get together after games to eat dinner and talk about basketball. We talk about our ball games, argue and laugh, have the best time, comparing calls. Everybody has opinions, we have a great time.”
Bodie claims that she is pretty lenient. “I think I’ve thrown out one parent in 26 years, maybe one technical on a coach. I had to throw out some kids for fighting. It gets written up and the high school league goes through the tapes to make sure you’ve done everything right. If someone gets too loud or annoying, I get the AD and ask them to tell the person to quiet down or else please escort them out.
“When you’re in your area, you can’t watch the whole court, I watch my area. This year I got knocked down for the first time ever. I got knocked down flat. I’m counting and I see this kid coming and I’m thinking ‘I cannot move.’ I got hit. He tackled me. I’m surprised I didn’t break my neck. The kids were laughing hard and offering to help me up. I rolled over, got up and kept on going.”
I get the impression that’s a metaphor for her life. Bodie refers to her husband with tremendous love. He attended all her games once she got established. “It’s hard to go on without him,” she says. She had to give a speech at the induction ceremony and every time she tried to write it, she would end up crying.
“I finally got it together,” she says. “Of course, I broke down in the middle of it and I had to take deep breaths to continue. Afterwards, my aunts, my mom, my sons, they all said that I did a really good job. I don’t remember a thing, I just got through it. My buddies said they wanted to come up and hug me and stand by me during the speech. It’s bittersweet.”
Carol Hoover Bodie is the daughter of Lucy and Richard Hoover. Her father died in 2016 and her mother is currently living in Wagener. Bodie and her brother, her only sibling, Ricky Hoover are both living in Aiken. Bodie has two adult sons. She played basketball at WSHS and graduated in 1975.
She met her husband at Cooper’s Creek Golf Course and married while she was still in college, May 20, 1978. They lived in Wagener during the early years of their marriage and then moved to Aiken where Bodie began working at the Savannah River Plant where she continues to work today.
South Carolina has a shortage of officials. If you love the game, Bodie encourages you to apply. The SCBOA welcomes new, young, athletic men and women to join their team. If you have an interest in becoming a sports official, apply at SCBOA.net.