IBCA Names McGriff, Pillar as 2026 Basketball Officiating Award Recipients

Before David Pillar ever worked a high school game, he was already on the floor at Indiana University, calling scrimmages for Bob Knight and running intramural games in the HPER Building as a student manager for the Hoosiers. That background sets the tone for a career that has taken him to eight state championship finals. Now in his 27th year as a licensed official, Pillar is one of two game officials the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association has named as its 2026 officiating award recipients.

The IBCA selected Pillar of Danville for the Mildred Ball Award and Ron McGriff of Whiteland for the Roy Gardner Award, honoring both men for long careers on the hardwood. McGriff's impact on the game floor spans from 1978 to 2018, while Pillar's career runs from 1999 to the present.

Pillar became a licensed high school official in 2000 and has since called four girls state finals and four boys state finals, a total of eight championship-game assignments that represent the highest stage in Indiana prep basketball.

McGriff's path to the Gardner Award began long before his officiating career. In high school, he led the Southwestern basketball team in field goal percentage, free throw percentage and rebounds, while earning all-conference and all-county recognition in baseball. He went on to Franklin College, graduating in 1984 with a bachelor's degree in sociology, then spent 38 and a half years with Duke Energy before retiring on Dec. 31, 2025.

The Ball Award carries particular significance within Indiana's officiating community. It is named after Mildred Morgan Ball, a graduate of Gary Roosevelt High School and Indiana University who served as an IHSAA assistant commissioner from 1977 to 1997. During those two decades, Ball was responsible for licensing and training contest officials across the state, work that shaped the very system Pillar and McGriff worked within.

McGriff and Pillar will receive their awards at the 2026 IBCA Clinic on April 23-24 at Mt. Vernon High School in Fortville. Last year's Roy Gardner Award went to Bill Brinkman of Lawrenceburg.