| Overall UK Wins: 119 | Overall UK Losses: 25 | Win % 82.6 |
Date of Birth: June 3, 1903
Date of Death: February 13, 1986
Hometown: Nashville, TN
Alma Mater: Cumberland

For a generalized listing of officials, please consult this page.

Obituary - The Tennessean (February 14, 1986)

Chest Dies

Bowser Chest, 82, once the premier basketball official in the Southeastern Conference, died in a Waverly, Tenn., hospital yesterday afternoon.

Chest's body is at Ellis funeral home here, but funeral arrangements had not been completed last night.

Bowser started his officiating career in 1924, one year after he had played on one of Nashville's top high school teams at Hume-Fogg, and he retired in the mid-1960s.

He officiated most of his career when the SEC used only one official.

Biography - Knoxville News-Sentinel (January 14, 1951)

Bowser Chest Retires as Basketball Official

by Frank (Red) Bailes

Bowser Chest, one of the most colorful basketball officials in the South, has hung up his whistle.

The popular Nashville sportsman notified Bernie Moore, Southeastern Conference commissioner, last week that he was retiring from active officiating, effective immediately.

Hurts Ankle Here

Chest was scheduled to work in the Tennessee-Alabama game in Knoxville a week ago but was forced to call in Jack Keys, of Knoxville to pinch hit for him.

Traumatic joints in the right foot, brought on by too much running, is the reason Chest gave for his retirement. He was first troubled with the ailment three years ago and just before Christmas this past year the trouble re-occurred. He had been on crutches until just a few days ago.

"This is the toughest decision I ever made," Chest told Commissioner Moore in resigning. "My doctor (Dr. Cleo Miller) has advised me that I would run the risk of permanent injury if I continued officiating."

Remains President

The popular SEC official will continue as president of the Southeastern Conference Officials Association and will act as co-ordinator between the SEC and the officials, as he has for the past four years. He was one of the leading figures in forming the SEC Officials Association and has been president of the group since.

Chest started his colorful officiating career in 1923 at the Nashville YMCA when he was called out of the stands to referee an independent game.

The former Hume-Fogg High athlete played on YMCA and other independent teams after graduation. His 28 years of officiating have carried him all over the South, East and Midwest, where he has become known as one of the greatest officials in the game.

Chest has had several assignments in Madison Square Garden, New York; Chicago, South Bend, Ind., and other leading cities, in recent years.

He has officiated in every Southeastern Conference tournament since its beginning in 1933 and served in the last tournament of the old Southern Conference.

Two young Knoxville SEC officials may benefit by Chest's retirement. Biggy Marshall and Jack Keys already have several SEC appointments but should receive more now that Chest will not be available to work in his games.

In Second Year

Marshall and Keys are in their second year of SEC officiating. The SEC has about 28 working officials who will share in the reassignment.

Among Chest's duties now will be observing officials all over the SEC and conducting clinics and rules interpretations meetings.

Biography - Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame

Elbert Olney "Bowser" Chest officiated his first basketball game as an eighteen-year-old Hume-Fogg High School student; some thirty years later, in 1953, he worked his final college game, an Auburn-Alabama SEC contest. During those years from the mid-1920s to the mid-1950s, Chest blazed the trail for basketball officials, not only in the South, but for the entire nation.

With his shrieking whistle and booming voice, Chest set a style that has been copied many times since. He worked all the major tournaments and was the first Southerner ever to officiate in the NCAA tournament finals, working the 1949 championship in Madison Square Garden. The year before his NCAA assignment, Chest called a double-overtime game between Kentucky and the Phillips Oilers in the 1948 Olympic trials game at Kansas City, a game he called his biggest officiating thrill.

Chest worked approximately 2,500 games in his illustrious career, but his top personal honor came as a high school player at Hume-Fogg in Nashville, where his 1921-1922 team beat Morgan Prep in the state finals, and Chest was named all-state. "It was the first recognition I had received for my talent," said Chest. "Things like that stay imbedded in your memory."

Chest rendered invaluable service to the SEC in setting up a basketball officials organization. His keen knowledge of the rules and his "feel" of players' competitive temperaments made him matchless during his long officiating career.

This page was made with a Macintosh
What Flavor's Your Mac?