After nearly five decades of blowing whistles, making calls and helping shape officiating on the Big Island, Mason Souza has reached the pinnacle of his profession.

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After nearly five decades of blowing whistles, making calls and helping shape officiating on the Big Island, Mason Souza has reached the pinnacle of his profession.

The longtime Big Island official was recently named to the Hawaii Sports Officials Hall of Fame (HSOHOF) Class of 2026, inducted alongside Stan Finch, Michael Fricano, Michael Goshima, Jim Lebeau and Aaron Neff.

Souza officiated a variety of sports, but was inducted for basketball. He and the rest of the inductees were celebrated this past weekend at the Ala Moana Hotel on Oahu.

“It was nice to see that my hard work was recognized,” Souza told the paper. “Anytime you put in hard work and go the extra mile, all you need sometimes is a pat on the back, and I’m very grateful I was inducted into the hall of fame.

“Not many can say they were inducted into a hall of fame.”

Souza’s storied officiating career began when he was just 13 years old in search of a way to make some extra cash.

“My dad was a baseball umpire,” he said. “He also officiated basketball and softball. Just being around him and living right next to the gym is what got me interested in officiating.”

From there, Souza’s officiating career continued to grow. Later working for the county, he refereed a variety of youth and high school sports on the island. Souza also officiated basketball at the Division-I collegiate level, working games that featured prominent coaches such as Geno Auriemma of the UConn women, Nolan Richardson of the Arkansas men and Riley Wallace of the UH-Manoa men. Souza primarily refereed Big West Conference games while working in Division I.

Souza also helped form the Big Island Basketball Officials Association in the late 1970s, creating a local organization dedicated to training and supporting officials.

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“There were no organizations back then when it came to officials,” Souza explained. “When you were a ref, there was nobody who had your back. We decided to form this union and organization where everyone is trained and supported.”

Throughout the years, Souza has witnessed major changes in officiating, including the introduction of instant replay — something that didn’t exist when he began. In an ever-evolving sports world, Souza noted that being accurate in your officiating is more imperative than ever.

“Every call you make can be watched over,” he said. “In my last couple of years in the Big West, if we made a call that the supervisor didn’t agree with, they would call at halftime and have you explain what you saw. Back in the day, we didn’t have anything like that — you just did your game and went home.

“You can’t make mistakes nowadays, especially for what we get paid at the DI level.”

But according to Souza, what separates a good referee from a great one is the one who is always practicing and looking to improve. The more work one puts in, the easier the job is on gameday.

“It’s all about looking at the matchups, knowing the coaches and crew that you have, and just anticipating what’s going to happen,” Souza said. “I’ve practiced my officiating a lot, and I still do.

“The higher you go, the more work you have to put in.”

While Souza is now officially a hall of famer, he’s not done officiating just yet. He still officiates youth and high school events, but noted that he is done working in NCAA Division I.

“I’m still young, being in my early 60s, so I’m not retiring now,” Souza said. “I still got a couple of good years left.”

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