Tim Donaghy
Tim Donaghy
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Born in Havertown Pennsylvania, Tim Donaghy loved the game of basketball ever since he could remember. He received his love for the game from his father Gerry Donaghy, who had officiated at high school and collegiate level games for over thirty years. Since he lived so close to Philadelphia, he naturally became a 76ers fan. Some of his favorite players were Doug Collins and Mike Dunleavy. Donaghy attended Cardinal O'Hara High School in Springfield, Pennsylvania where he played competitively during his four years spent there. Following high school, Donaghy graduated from Villanova University with a liberal arts degree in 1989.

Although Donaghy had a degree after his graduation, he became unsatisfied with the direction in which his career was headed. One night while sitting at the kitchen table with his parents, his mother suggested that he look into a career in the NBA. It was all the motivation that he needed, and began to pursue his new found dream job. Later as Tim Donaghy perfected his skills as a referee through training camps, he was noticed by the NBA supervisor of officials Darell Garretson. This eventually led to Tim Donaghy’s start in the CBA, the NBA’s official minor league. He officiated for three years in the CBA. Before his fourth year Donaghy was called to officiate in the NBA.

From 1994 to 2007 Tim Donaghy worked for the NBA, officiating in 772 regular-season games and 20 playoff games. Donaghy was a participant in the NBA's Read to Achieve program, for which he participated in an event at the Universal Charter school during the 2002 NBA Finals. His uniform number was 21.

Blog Entries by Tim Donaghy

Response to Henry Abbott of ESPN

Posted June 11, 2010 | 18:55:21 (EST)

Henry Abbott's TrueHoop Blog - presumably, where one goes to learn the truth about basketball. Well, not so fast.

Today, Henry posted a mean-spirited, factually incorrect version my life before, during and after my career as an NBA a referee. While Henry would like...

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Pavlov and the NBA

Posted June 5, 2010 | 14:39:07 (EST)

Back in high school psychology class, we all learned about Pavlov's dogs, and how the dogs had a conditioned response when an attractive reward was present. Basically, the dogs began to automatically salivate at the presentation of 'meat powder'. Soon, they began to salivate when the technician who had the...

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2010 NBA Finals Preview

Posted June 2, 2010 | 20:04:08 (EST)

They've met eleven times before, as recently as 2008, and between them, there are 32 Championship rings. You guessed it, The Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics meet for the twelfth time in the 2010 NBA Finals (although it could have been Cleveland vs. Los Angeles had Delonte West...

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Orlando vs. Boston: Breaking Down Game 6

Posted May 29, 2010 | 14:15:20 (EST)

I don't gamble anymore. I'm both in recovery for my own addiction, and I work at Firstep Intervention, owned by Mike Osborne, a gambling treatment facility based in New Jersey. As a former NBA referee, with a story to tell about the crooked officiating in the venerable world of professional...

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Competitive Purity

Posted May 22, 2010 | 12:41:49 (EST)

The recently concluded NCAA Basketball Tournaments, at all levels and with both genders, ends another season of excitement and pure joy for the participating players, coaches, and die-hard, pure basketball fans. Basketball is not over - not by a long shot. What just ended was the part of basketball that...

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Yesterday's News ... Or Is It?

Posted March 10, 2010 | 19:34:16 (EST)

It's almost yesterday's news. Iverson. One of the greatest scorers in NBA history. A top-notch player by anyone's standards. An athlete of the highest order; a man of skill, a poster boy for one of the greatest professions on earth. And in the recycling bin, buried in the sports page,...

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NBA Turns a Blind Eye... Again

Posted March 2, 2010 | 14:56:48 (EST)

Are you surprised? I'm not. Ever since excerpts from my tell-all book on the internal improprieties of the NBA began to circulate in early November, the NBA's front office has pretended that the depictions detailed in my book, Personal Foul, are nothing more than the sour grape rumblings...

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