Courtesy of the MEAC
NORFOLK, Va., Sept. 29, 2023 — The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) has announced the hiring of Tony Brothers, a veteran referee with extensive professional experience, including the National Basketball Association (NBA), as the league’s new Coordinator of Women’s Basketball Officials.
Brothers’ tenure is officially underway.
“Tony Brothers’ credentials with regards to basketball officiating are second to none,” MEAC Commissioner Sonja Stills said. “Our league, and our eight member institutions, will benefit from his decades of experience at the highest level of basketball, and we expect women’s basketball officiating in the MEAC to reach new heights.”
Brothers has been an NBA official since 1994, having officiated over 1,700 regular-season games, 170 playoff contests and 11 NBA Finals appearances. He was a member of the crew that officiated the 1996 Mexico Challenge, 1998 Schick Rookie All-Star Game, 1999 McDonald’s Championship in Milan, Italy, the 2008 NBA China Games, the 2009 NBA All-Star Game and the 2014 Global Games in Berlin and Turkey, 2018 NBA BWB Africa Games, and the 2018 NBA China Games.
Prior to joining the NBA, Brothers spent four years officiating in the Canadian Basketball Association (CBA), including three CBA Finals and a CBA All-Star Game. He has one year of collegiate officiating experience at the Division III level. Brothers also has seven years of high school officiating experience in Virginia, including three state tournaments.
Brothers has also served as commissioner of the Virginia Basketball Officials Association since 2017.
Currently living in Norfolk, Va., and a graduate of Booker T. Washington High School, Brothers co-founded Still Hope Foundation, Inc., now Journey for Success, in honor of his late mother Dorothy Brothers, as well as Men For Hope, Inc. He has also established the Dorothy B. Brothers Endowment at Norfolk State University to assist students who come from single-parent households, and he also established the Dorothy B. Brothers Auditorium on NSU’s campus.
A two-time graduate of Old Dominion University (Bachelor’s in Business Administration/MIS in 1986, Master’s in Public Administration in 2022), Brothers also holds an honorary doctorate from Norfolk State University, awarded in 2018.