The Langston Department of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation (HPER) is hosting the inaugural Charlie Green Sports Officiating Speakers Series on Monday, September 15, 2025, at 11:00 am in the C.F. Gayles Gymnasium, Room 153.

The event is to be held every September to encourage university students to pursue sports officiating as an avocation option after graduation. All University students are encouraged to attend in hopes of recruiting these students to learn how to become a game official while in college. Sports officials are in great demand today due to a shortage of game officials for our youth sports programs and high school games in all team sports across America.

This year’s speakers are Eugene Jackson and K.C. Ely who are currently active college basketball officials and are based out of Oklahoma. Both Jackson and Ely have decades of high school, NAIA, and NCAA postseason experience who are also valued evaluators of new game officials in Oklahoma and across the Southcentral region of the United States hoping to break into college officiating.

This speakers series is named in honor of the late Charlie Green, a proud Langston alumnus and veteran Oklahoma basketball official who began his officiating career at the high school level. Mr. Green (warmly known as Chief) rose to become a highly decorated NAIA and NCAA basketball game official. After retirement from actively working games, Charlie Green mentored younger high school and college basketball game officials and served as an officials evaluator for the NCAA Big 12 Conference.