The best officials usually go unnoticed, but three of Selma’s best were recognized Saturday night by the Alabama High School Athletic Association.

Selma’s Bill Minor, Louie “Country Boy” Adkison and John Solomon — a trio with 120 years of officiating experience combined — were honored AHSAA’s officials award luncheon in Montgomery.

Minor and Adkison were given Distinguished Service plaques for their decades of experience, while Solomon was awarded as the West Central District’s football official of the year and for officiating the AHSAA’s track and softball finals.

“It was really rewarding and I really appreciated it,” Minor, who has 48 years of officiating experience, said. “It lets you know people do care about your accomplishments because I hadn’t had recognition in a while and after I got it ‘I said, oh they didn’t forget.’”

Being a high school official isn’t for everyone. They don’t get paid a lot, they usually don’t get a lot of recognition and a good day is when they can exit the field or court without being the talk of fans in the stands.

Solomon, Minor and Adkison have heard it all from fans, but at this point in their careers they’ve developed thick skin and know how to ignore comments from the crowd.

Minor said one of his favorite moments of his career was apologizing to a coach for a missed call. After the game, the coach said he was the only official to ever admit to him that he’d missed a call.

“I’m human and they’re human and when you go to a coach and say ‘Sorry, coach I missed it or I’ll work harder’ they respect you for that and they appreciate you for that,” Minor said.

Minor said in his four decades of officiating basketball, he cannot recall ever ejecting a coach due to a second technical foul, a stat that reflects his patience.

Adkison, who has 45 years of officiating experience, and still currently officiates baseball, softball and football, said athletics should be about the participants on the field and not the coaches, fans or officials. He said it’s tough for younger officials to understand that.

Officiating has allowed him to call games at all levels, but he said nothing compares to watching the younger age groups play.

“I love to see the youth achieve something,” Adkison said. “To see a kid strike out and cry, it makes me sad. To see them hit a double or slide in to score or make a touchdown, that thrills my heart.”

Solomon actually called the high school playoffs in six sports this season — football, track, baseball, basketball, softball and volleyball — and he said he’s believed to be one of the only officials to ever do that.

He also officiates college athletics and is seemingly always on a court, track or field. Each level has different rules, which he said makes it tough to go back and forth.

“It’s playing that mental game, being able to go from one sport to the next is not easy,” Solomon said. “It’s not easy if you do a high school game on Tuesday night and do a college game on Wednesday you have to change your whole focus.”

All three officials were thankful to those who had taught them how to officiate and for family members in their lives that have allowed them to keep doing it for several decades.

“It says more about the people who taught me than it does about me, because if they had taught me incorrectly it wouldn’t matter what my skills were,” Solomon said. “No way am I going to say I am the best official, but being selected says you are one of the better officials at this point in time.”