Basketball|Jorma Ovaska died at the age of 74.
Finnish a basketball refereeing legend Jorma Ovaska is dead, says Kymen Sanomat. According to the newspaper, Ovaska died on Tuesday, exhausted by a long-term illness.
Ovaska was 74 years old when he died. He refereed men’s major league basketball for 21 seasons, officiating 615 games between 1979 and 2000.
Ovaska from Kotka received a significant honor in his hometown in 2020, when his referee’s shirt was frozen and raised to the roof of the Karhuvuori arena. The reason behind the suspension was Kotka clubs KTP-Basket and Peli-Karhut and the city of Kotka.
Ovaska was chosen as the referee of the four seasons of the SM series (1992, -93, -95 and -97) and in 1989 he was awarded the Golden Whistle award. The golden whistle is the most prestigious honor that a basketball referee can receive in Finland.
After his active career, Ovaska worked as a referee trainer.
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