Sports

Upon further review: 'In the world of officiating, Jim Tunney is Babe Ruth'

Published

2 years ago

February 9, 2024

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Upon further review: 'In the world of officiating, Jim Tunney is Babe Ruth'

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. —

Jim Tunney has seen both ends of the spectrum.

He was the NFL’s youngest game official when he was hired as a 30-year-old field judge in 1960, and now is the oldest living retired referee, three weeks removed from his 95th birthday.

Tunney, a graduate of Occidental College, was on the field in stripes for some of the most memorable games in NFL history, among them the “Ice Bowl,” a frigid game between Dallas and Green Bay; “The Catch,” when Joe Montana’s pass to Dwight Clark toppled the Cowboys and sent the San Francisco 49ers to their first Super Bowl; and “The Fumble,” when Denver beat Cleveland in the AFC championship game. He refereed three Super Bowls.

“Jim Tunney is in our space really the first referee who had to embrace television,” said Gene Steratore, a former referee who will be in the Super Bowl booth for CBS on Sunday as the network’s rules analyst. “He projected himself into our living rooms to make some sense of what those guys in the striped shirts were doing. And he did it in the way that was digestible.”

Put simply by CBS play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz: “In the world of officiating, Jim Tunney is Babe Ruth.”

And even midway through his 90s, Tunney still knocks it out of the park when recounting his storied career.

Good friends don’t always start out that way.

That was the case with Tunney and Hall of Fame coach Don Shula, who didn’t like him at first.

“We started out as adversaries,” Tunney said of Shula, the Baltimore Colts and Miami Dolphins coach who died in 2020.

“He said, ‘I never want to argue with you. Every time you came over to the sidelines and we had a dispute, you always won.’ I would tell him, ‘I had to win. I was representing the league, I wasn’t representing you.’ ”

They got off on the wrong foot in a game at Green Bay in 1965, when Shula’s Colts lost on a field goal that sailed over one of the uprights. Shula thought it was out; Tunney ruled it in.

Later, when Shula was in Miami, Tunney worked Super Bowl VI that culminated the 1971 season. In that game, Dallas crushed the Dolphins, 24-3.

After his coaching career, Shula moved to Pebble Beach and had a home near the Links at Spanish Bay. He and Tunney would play golf together, and for a while the coach didn’t have a television so he would come over to the retired referee’s house to watch games.

Former NFL referee Jim Tunney and his wife, Linda, in their Pebble Beach home.

(Sam Farmer / Los Angeles Times)

The pals and their wives took seven luxury cruises with each other, touring the Caribbean, Scandinavia and Central Europe.

Shula, who finished as the NFL’s winningest coach with 347 victories, never forgot about that controversial kick in Green Bay.

“He still thought it was wide,” Tunney said. “I’d tell him, ‘If you had won that game, you would have won 348 instead of 347. You’d have had to change all those hats and logos.’ We kidded about that for years.”

John Madden had a lighthearted way about him as a broadcaster. Not so much as coach of the Oakland Raiders.

During a preseason game in the mid-1970s, Madden was unhappy with a call by Tunney at the end of the first half, rumbled onto the field and grabbed him by the arm.

“Leave me alone,” Tunney said, wriggling loose of his grasp.

Tunney told him to meet him in the tunnel if he had something to discuss, that he didn’t want to have an argument before 70,000 spectators.

“I said, ‘John, I can’t have you yelling at me in front of all these people,’ ” he said. “‘Because whatever happens, you can’t win the argument. Let me explain it.’ ”

By the time they got to the tunnel, cooler heads prevailed.

“I’m sorry,” Madden said. “I got excited.”

“Eh, forget about it,” Tunney told him. “We’re fine.”

Years later, the legendary coach would write the forward for Tunney’s book, “Impartial Judgment.” When Madden got into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, he invited the ref as his guest.

Tunney heard a lot of R-rated language during the course of his career and didn’t flinch when players and coaches called him names.

By his recollection, he only booted one player.

It was Deacon Jones, Hall of Fame defensive end for the Rams and it came after one of the player’s signature head slaps.

“I said, ‘Deacon, you can’t do that,’ ” he said. “He got upset with me, it went on for a while and I said, ‘That’s enough. You go.’ ”

Jones, whose autobiography was titled “Headslap,” never let go of that ejection. Long after he retired, he was a celebrity guest in a golf tournament that included the official in question.

“I never did like Tunney,” Jones said at the microphone of that event.

“That’s OK,” Tunney recalled with a shrug. “You didn’t have to like me. My relationship with players was fun, it was good. I respected what they did and I think they respected what I did.”

An NFL official on the weekends, Tunney had a completely separate life as a school administrator during the week. He was principal of Fairfax High in Los Angeles for seven years.

“School was out on Friday afternoon, and the next morning I’d get on a plane at LAX and fly to Detroit or Green Bay or Miami or someplace else by myself,” he said. “First-class travel thanks to [NFL commissioner Pete] Rozelle.”

Lots of his students knew of his moonlighting career.

“Particularly at Fairfax because those kids were so sharp,” he said. “They’d come back on Monday morning and say, ‘Oh, you sure screwed up that play…’ I’d just laugh and say, ‘Yeah, I probably did.’ ”

Not only did Tunney work Super Bowl XI at the Rose Bowl when Madden’s Raiders beat the Minnesota Vikings, but also the following year in New Orleans when the Dallas Cowboys demolished the Denver Broncos. It was the first time a referee worked back-to-back Super Bowls.

Tunney learned he would be working Cowboys-Broncos when he got a call from Bob Oates, longtime NFL writer for the Los Angeles Times. Having been in L.A. his whole life, Tunney was happy to speak with Oates but first needed to clear the interview with Art McNally, the league’s director of officiating.

McNally greenlighted the interview as long as Oates didn’t break the news until Super Bowl Sunday.

“Art didn’t want people to know,” Tunney said. “He was afraid of gamblers.”

There was a rule at the time that precluded officials from visiting Las Vegas during the season. Even offseason trips to Sin City were frowned upon by the league but Tunney did a lot of public speaking, and many of those conventions were in Las Vegas. He had three or four such opportunities per year, some of them during the football season.

McNally bent the rules for him a bit.

“I told Art, ‘I’ll go to the front desk, check in, go to my room, go to the convention hall and get back on the airplane,’ ” Tunney said. “I didn’t gamble. He trusted me and let me go once or twice during the season. I just kept him informed.”

It was not uncommon for fans who recognized Tunney in public places to ask him for insider information.

“I had people approach me and ask, ‘What do you think about [Joe] Montana’s back? Is he going to be able to play this Sunday?’ ” he said. “I’d say, ‘What happened to his back? I don’t know much about that.’ I just played dumb the whole time.”

Tunney still watches a lot of football, and not surprisingly, he focuses on the officials.

“I see a play down the field and I wonder where the side judge was, where the back judge was, see where he was so he could make the call,” he said. “In officiating, it’s positioning. If you’re in the right position at the right time, you’re going to make the right call. We’re trained that way.”

Referee Walt Anderson watches a replay.

(Michael Ainsworth / Associated Press)

Training, or lack thereof, is a bit of a sore subject with him. He thinks there are too few seasoned trainers for all the young officials in the league these days.

“There are 17 crews, and we need 17 good referees,” he said. “We don’t have that.”

That’s not to say he’s entirely discouraged by what he has seen. He believes there are a lot of talented up-and-coming officials. He also believes that detailed, super-slow-motion instant replay, and the technology at the fingertips of fans, make the job of officiating especially challenging.

“They’re so afraid of the replay,” he said of today’s officials. “They’re worried that they’ll call something and the replay will prove them wrong. In the past, McNally could always look at the film but that’s by Tuesday or Wednesday. Now, it’s right there.”

Hollywood Tunney. That’s what Howard Cosell called him.

They worked together on “Battle of the Network Stars,” a series of sports competitions pitting television stars from ABC, CBS and NBC. There were 19 episodes that ran between 1976 and 1988, and Tunney worked 14 of them.

The announcers were hosted by Cosell and a variety of different guest hosts, among them Frank Gifford, Bruce Jenner, Telly Savalas, Billy Crystal, Cathy Lee Crosby, Lee Majors and others.

Some of the events were legitimate sports (swimming, tennis, golf, volleyball) and others were frivolous (dunk tank, tug-of-war, Frisbee catch).

Referee Jim Tunney watches action during a Bengals-Steelers game at Three Rivers Stadium in 1986.

(George Gojkovich / Getty Images)

Tunney remembers how tough-guy actor Robert Conrad lobbied to play tackle football.

“He was muscular,” the official said. “I told him, ‘No, you can’t break somebody’s leg.’”

Tunney got to know Suzanne Somers, Tony Danza, Farrah Fawcett, Catherine Bach and the like.

“Most of the people who are in show business are so natural because they’re in front of the camera all day long,” he said. “They just get along with people so well.”

When he was principal at Hollywood High for two years, he got to know some students who went on to become stars. He remembers a young Charlene Tilton telling him she’d make it to the silver screen one day. She went on to star in the TV show “Dallas.” Rita Wilson was a student of his, too, a successful actress and wife of Tom Hanks.

While working at Fairfax, he got to know musician Herb Alpert, who came back with his Tijuana Brass and played charity concerts at his old high school.

Tunney got to know celebrities on NFL sidelines, too, among them Jim Nabors, who sang the national anthem for the Rams, and James Garner, a big fan of the Raiders.

Once, McNally came out to a West Coast game Tunney was working and was starstruck by the sight of Garner.

“He walked up to James and said, ‘Oh, Mr. Garner, I love ‘Rockford Files,’ ” Tunney recalled. “I told Art, ‘He doesn’t care about that. Leave him alone.’ ”

It was kind of an odd pairing, but Tunney and us-against-the-world Raiders owner Al Davis were pals.

“We got along very well,” Tunney said. “He didn’t like most officials. … I treated him just like another guy. He was an assistant football coach to me. No big deal.”

Once, before a game, Tunney spotted Davis at the far end of the field, in enemy territory, watching the opposing receivers run through drills.

NFL referee Jim Tunney signals while standing near the Steelers huddle during a game at Three Rivers Stadium in 1983.

(George Gojkovich / Getty Images)

“I walked down there and stood beside him and didn’t say a word,” Tunney said. “Finally I said, ‘What are you doing down here?’ He said, ‘I’m watching that receiver. He doesn’t go to his left as well as he goes to his right.’

“Al knew football and he knew players.”

Davis also knew how to work the officials.

“He would always say, ‘Jimmy, if there’s ever anything I can do for you, you let me know,’” Tunney said. “We always got along well. Every time I’d see him he’d tell his players, ‘Don’t give this guy any trouble. He’ll take care of the game.’ ”

That was true whether the Raiders were on the right end of a call or not.

Every official gets an earful from fans. That didn’t bother Tunney.

“They’re fans,” he said with a chuckle. “Short for fanatic. I never worried about that. They could be in the 60th row and could call holding at the line of scrimmage better than you can.”

He had fellow officials who got plunked by batteries and bottles and any number of other flying objects.

“Snowballs were the worst,” he said. “They loved throwing snowballs at Wrigley Field.”

Occasionally, fans would make it over the barrier and onto the playing surface during a break in the action.

“At Kezar [in San Francisco], we had somebody come out of the stands and pull a flag right out of the line judge’s pocket,” he said.

Tunney officiated during the era of streaking, too, and saw his share of people weaving through security guards while unencumbered by clothing.

“When I was at Hollywood High in 1974, we had a streaker during graduation at the Hollywood Bowl,” he said. “He came running across the stage with all these streamers on. They caught him.”

Tunney, standing at the lectern, couldn’t resist.

“Hey,” he said into the microphone. “You forgot your diploma.”

Tunney has had quite a life. Before marrying Linda and moving to Pebble Beach, Calif., 27 years ago, he was the superintendent in Bellflower and lived in a condominium that was pretty close to heaven.

“I was living on the sand in Newport Beach, about 120 yards from the water,” he said. “Every day after school I’d go in the water. Now how do you beat that?”

These days, he lives just outside the gates of Monterey Peninsula Country Club. One wall of his office is a large picture window that overlooks the Del Monte Forest. For years, he has written a column for the local paper, and his newsletter, “The Tunney Side of Sports.”

How could he ever beat his old life? He just might have found a way.

Sports

Brooke Slusser sparks liberal social media meltdown by speaking about SJSU transgender volleyball scandal

Published

7 hours ago

March 11, 2026

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Brooke Slusser sparks liberal social media meltdown by speaking about SJSU transgender volleyball scandal

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Left-wing social media users launched a volley of insults at 23-year-old Brooke Slusser in recent days.

In response, dozens of high-profile women’s rights activists have come to the former San Jose State University volleyball player’s defense.

Slusser has addressed the critics herself in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“I would just say people that don’t know my life or my trauma don’t have room to say how good or bad my time at SJSU was. I hope they never have to understand going through something as awful as that,” she said.

She has also acknowledged the responses in a series of TikTok posts, as she has become more active on the platform this week to speak about her alleged experience at SJSU.

The online hate campaign started after Slusser shared details about living arrangements in the same apartment with transgender volleyball teammate Blaire Fleming while at San Jose State university, in an interview with Fox News Digital.

During the interview, she said, “You find out you’re just chilling in a bed with a man that you have no idea about… I [was] unknowingly sharing a bed at that time with a man,” and alleged SJSU volleyball coach Todd Kress encouraged her to live in the same apartment as the trans teammate when another group of players were also looking for a final tenant.

The fallout of the interview has prompted high-profile activists, lawmakers and even an actor to speak out, taking a side behind or against Slusser.

Many critics echoed the sentiment that “nothing bad” happened to Slusser, despite the fact that the anxiety from the situation ultimately led to her developing an eating disorder and not being able to complete her college degree.

Former “Glee” actor Kevin McHale even appeared to mock Slusser’s appearance.

A coalition of “save women’s sports” activists rushed to Slusser’s defense, with OutKick host Riley Gaines, XX-XY Athletics founder Jennifer Sey, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., women’s tennis legend Martina Navratilova and former ESPN star Sage Steele leading the charge to defend Slusser from the pro-trans detractors.

“Brooke has every right to feel violated. This is a violation of her personal space and boundaries. She was lied to. She would not have agreed to room with or play with a man,” Sey wrote in response to one critic.

Navratilova wrote in response to that same critic, “Brooke has every right to be mad. Try again with the punishment wish…”

Slusser finds herself at the center of a sports culture war flashpoint at a time when the conflict over her school’s handling of her transgender former teammate has reached a political impasse.

‘HORRIBLE’ MOMENTS EXPOSED FOR UNR VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS WHEN THEY WERE ROPED INTO THE SJSU TITLE IX SCANDAL

After the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced at the end of January that an investigation into the university for its handling of a trans athlete and other players concluded that the school violated Title IX, SJSU and the California State University system declined to resolve the violation.

Instead, SJSU President Cynthia Teniente-Matson announced Friday that the school and the California State University (CSU) system are suing the federal government to challenge the investigation.

“Because we believe OCR’s findings aren’t grounded in the facts or the law, SJSU and the CSU filed a lawsuit today against the federal government to challenge those findings and prevent the federal government from taking punitive action against the university, including the potential withholding of critical federal funding,” Teniente-Matson said Friday.

“This is not a step we take lightly. However, we have a responsibility to defend the integrity of our institution and the rule of law, while ensuring that every member of our community is treated fairly and in accordance with the law. Our position is simple: We have followed the law and cannot be punished for doing so.”

The school is also requesting that OCR rescind its findings and close its investigation.

Teniente-Matson affirmed the university’s commitment to defending the LGBTQ community in the announcement.

“Our support for the LGBTQ members of our community, who have experienced threats and harms over the last several years, remains unwavering. We know the attention the university has received around this issue and the investigative process that followed have been unsettling for many in our community,” the university president said.

Among ED’s findings, it determined that a female athlete discovered that the trans student allegedly conspired to have a member of an opposing team spike her in the face during a match. The department claims “SJSU did not investigate the conspiracy, but later subjected the female athlete to a Title IX complaint for ‘misgendering’ the male athlete in online videos and interviews.”

Slusser alleged in a November 2024 lawsuit against the Mountain West that she and former assistant coach Melissa Batie-Smoose were made aware of a meeting between Fleming and Colorado State women’s volleyball player Malaya Jones on Oct. 2, 2024, during which Fleming discussed a plan with Jones to have Slusser spiked in the face during a match the following night.

Slusser’s own lawsuit partially survived motions to dismiss last week as well.

Colorado District Judge Kato Crews dismissed all the plaintiffs’ charges against the Mountain West Conference but did not dismiss charges of Title IX violations against the CSU system.

Crews deferred his ruling on whether to dismiss those charges until after a decision in the ongoing B.P.J. v. West Virginia Supreme Court case, which is expected in June.

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Brooke Slusser #10 and Blaire Fleming #3 of the San Jose State Spartans call a play during the first set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym on October 19, 2024 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)

The CSU provided a statement to Fox News Digital in response to Crews’ ruling.

“CSU is pleased with the court’s ruling. SJSU has complied with Title IX and all applicable law, and it will continue to do so,” the statement said.

The outcomes of the lawsuits by and against SJSU on this issue could ultimately set a consequential precedent for the future of women’s sports in America.

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Jackson Thompson is a sports reporter for Fox News Digital covering critical political and cultural issues in sports, with an investigative lens. Jackson’s reporting has been cited in federal government actions related to the enforcement of Title IX, and in legacy media outlets including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Associated Press and ESPN.com.

Sports

Jessica Pegula’s commitment to hard work every day has turned her into a leader

Published

7 hours ago

March 11, 2026

Press Room

Jessica Pegula’s commitment to hard work every day has turned her into a leader

INDIAN WELLS — Jessica Pegula never needed tennis.

She simply kept showing up for it anyway, through the long and often anonymous slog of the professional tour.

Now 32 and the oldest player in the top 10, Pegula is having her best season start yet.

The fifth-ranked American reached the Australian Open semifinals for the first time in January, falling to eventual champion Elena Rybakina. She followed that by capturing the Dubai 1000-level tournament, just a rung below the majors.

She is 15-2 so far in 2026, tied with Victoria Mboko in match wins and second only to Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina (17-3), who she defeated 6-2, 6-4 in the Dubai final.

Pegula is guaranteed to emerge from this week’s BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells as the top-ranked American, overtaking No. 4 Coco Gauff, if she reaches the final.

Jessica Pegula kisses the Dubai trophy after defeating Elina Svitolina in the finals on Feb. 21.

(Altaf Qadri / Associated Press)

First, she will have to get past No. 12-seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, her fourth-round opponent on Wednesday. Bencic has not dropped a set in four previous meetings with Pegula.

“That will be a challenge for me,” said the characteristically even-keeled Pegula after defeating former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko in the third round on Monday.

A late bloomer, Pegula has taken the long road.

She failed to qualify for Grand Slam main draws in 12 of 14 attempts from 2011 to 2018, and didn’t reach the third round at a major until the 2020 U.S. Open at age 26. All three of her Grand Slam semifinal runs — along with her 2024 U.S. Open final — have come after she turned 30.

Pegula said this week that her patience and persistence stem from “always being a little more mature for my age even when I was younger.”

“I think as I’ve gotten older, your perspective changes as well,” she added.

Pegula, whose parents are principal owners of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, acknowledges that her wealthy family background can cut two ways.

Financial security offers freedom to push through the sport’s early years on tour, when results are uncertain and the grind is relentless. That same cushion might make it easier to walk away if the climb becomes too frustrating.

Jessica Pegula plays a backhand against Donna Vekic during their match at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.

Pegula says her motivation to pursue tennis came well before her family’s fortune grew.

“I’ve been wanting to be a professional tennis player and No. 1 in the world since I was like 7,” she said in a small interview room after beating Ostapenko this week.

“It’s a privilege, but at the same time I don’t want to do myself a disservice of not taking the opportunity as well,” she explained. “I’ve always looked at it that way.”

In the last few seasons, that maturity on the court has dovetailed with a growing leadership role off it.

Pegula has served for years on the WTA Player Council and was recently tapped to chair the tour’s new Tour Architecture Council, a working group tasked with examining the increasingly demanding schedule and structural pressures players say have intensified in recent seasons. The panel is expected to explore changes that could reshape the calendar and player workload in coming years.

Pegula said she hadn’t put up her hand to be involved but agreed after several players approached her to take the lead role — though she declined to say who they were.

“I think maybe as you mature … you realize how important it is to give back to the sport,” she said last week.

Life has also provided grounding and a wider lens.

Pegula’s mother, Kim, suffered a serious cardiac arrest in 2022, a situation she discussed in detail in a moving 2023 essay for “The Players’ Tribune.”

The Buffalo native and Florida resident also married businessman Taylor Gahagen in 2021. Gahagen helps “holds down the fort” at home with the couple’s dogs and travels with her when possible. He is with her in Indian Wells.

“I have an amazing support system,” Pegula says.

Despite winning 10 WTA singles titles, achieving a career singles high of No. 3 in 2022 and the No. 1 doubles ranking, Pegula’s low-key demeanor means she flies a bit under the radar.

She’s not one for fashion statements, outlandish antics or attention-seeking initiatives, her joint podcast with close friend Madison Keys notwithstanding.

Instead, Pegula tends to go about her business quietly, relying on a calm temperament and a methodical style that wears opponents down over time.

She gets the job done — the Tim Duncan of the women’s tour.

“She’s just all about lacing them up and competing between the lines, and then trying to be as big an asset as she can to her peers off the court,” says Mark Knowles, the former doubles standout who has shared coaching duties with Mark Merklein since early 2024.

“I think one of her great attributes is she’s very level-headed,” Knowles adds. “She doesn’t get too high, doesn’t get too low.”

Her tennis identity echoes her steadiness.

Instead of bludgeoning opponents with power, the 5-foot-7 Pegula beats them with savvy, steadiness and tactical variety. A careful student of the game, she studies matchups and patrols the court with a composed efficiency that incrementally drains big hitters and outmaneuvers most rivals long before the final score confirms it.

Keys calls that consistency her “superpower.”

“She doesn’t lose matches that she shouldn’t lose,” the 2025 Australian Open champion said this week.

Because of injuries in the early part of her career, Knowles says Pegula might have less wear-and-tear than other players her age. And he and her team have prioritized rest and recovery, which included the decision to skip the tournament in Doha last month following her tiring Australian Open run.

On brand, there was no panic in Pegula after dropping the first set in her two matches so far at Indian Wells. As she’s done all season, she steadied herself to earn three-set wins.

Bucket-list goals remain, however. Chiefly, capturing a Grand Slam title.

Jessica Pegula returns a shot to Jelena Ostapenko during the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells on Monday.

Pegula jokes that she briefly interrupted a run of American female success when she fell in the 2024 U.S. Open final to No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka. But seeing close friend and teenage phenom Keys capture her major in Melbourne last year — after many wondered if her window had passed — hit closer to home.

“I think Madison winning Australia just motivated me even more,” Pegula says.

Although Pegula believes she is among the best hardcourt players in women’s tennis, that confidence hasn’t translated into success in the California desert. She has reached the quarterfinals just once in 10 previous appearances in Indian Wells.

“Why not try and add that one to the resume?” says Knowles, noting that she had never won the title in Dubai until last month. “She’s playing still at a very high level.”

Pegula says the key to keeping things fresh is maintaining her love of the game by continuing to improve and experiment with new ideas, a process that keeps her engaged mentally and eager to compete.

“I’m not afraid to kind of take that risk of changing and working on different things,” she says, “which just keeps my mind working and problem solving.”

For a player who never needed tennis, she remains determined to see how much more it can give her.

Sports

Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo makes NBA history with 83-point game

Published

19 hours ago

March 11, 2026

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Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo makes NBA history with 83-point game

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Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo made NBA history on Tuesday night.

Adebayo scored 83 points, all while setting league marks for free throws made and attempted in a game for the Miami Heat in a 150-129 win over the Washington Wizards. It is the second-highest scoring game for a player ever, only to Wilt Chamberlain’s famed 100-point game.

“An absolutely surreal night,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters after the game.

Adebayo started with a 31-point first quarter. He was up to 43 at halftime, 62 by the end of the third quarter. And then came the fourth, when the milestones kept falling despite facing double-, triple- and what once appeared to be a quadruple-team from a Wizards defense that kept sending him to the foul line.

He finished 20 of 43 from the field, 36 of 43 from the foul line, 7 for 22 from 3-point range.

After the game, he was seen in tears while he hugged his mother, Marilyn Blount, before leaving the floor after the game.

“Welp won’t have the highest career high in the house anymore,” Adebayo’s girlfriend, four-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, wrote on social media, “but at least it gives me something to go after.”

MAGIC’S ANTHONY BLACK MAKES INCREDIBLE DUNK OVER FOUR DEFENDERS IN HISTORIC NBA GAME

Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat celebrates during the fourth quarter of the game against the Washington Wizards at Kaseya Center on March 10, 2026, in Miami, Florida. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)

The NBA’s previous best this season was 56, by Nikola Jokic for Denver against Minnesota on Christmas night. The last player to have 62 points through three quarters: one of Adebayo’s basketball heroes, Kobe Bryant, who had exactly that many through three quarters for the Los Angeles Lakers against Dallas on Dec. 20, 2005.

He wound up passing Bryant for single-game scoring as well. Bryant’s career-best was 81 — a game that was the second-best on the NBA scoring list for two decades.

Adebayo scored 31 points in the opening quarter against the Wizards, breaking the Heat record for points in any quarter — and tying the team record for points in a first half before the second quarter even started.

He finished the first half with 43 points, a team record for any half and two points better than his previous career high — for a full game, that is — of 41, set Jan. 23, 2021, against Brooklyn.

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Adebayo’s season high entering Tuesday was 32. He matched that with a free throw with 5:53 left in the second quarter, breaking the Heat first-half scoring record.

Adebayo’s 43-point first half was the NBA’s second-best in at least the last 30 seasons — going back to the start of the digital play-by-play era that began in the 1996-97 season.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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