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News | Oct. 10, 2024

In Basketball and in Life, Like Father, Like Son

By Jonathan Austin, Defense Media Activity U.S. Armed Forces Sports

Brandon Tolson wouldn’t fault you if you thought he was following in his father’s footsteps.

Greg Tolson played basketball. So did Brandon. Greg joined the Air Force. So did Brandon. Greg worked in health care. So does Brandon.

They both work as referees for NCAA basketball games. They’re both quite tall.

However, Brandon, 33, wants to take his love of basketball and officiating somewhere that Greg, 68, never went.

Brandon Tolson intends to be an official in the National Basketball Association.

“He’s so hungry,” Greg said this week during a break as the two of them work officiating in the annual Armed Forces Sports Basketball Championship.

“No, let me take that back. He’s starving; starving to get better” as an official, the father said.

Greg, born in 1956, grew up in Los Angeles. At 6 feet 6 inches tall, he says he was a scorer on the court. 

He earned a degree from UCLA and a graduate degree in organizational leadership from the University of Southern California. He gave the Air Force more than 20 years of duty.

Initially a medic, Greg worked in the ER and in the shaving clinic. He developed a skill in the behavioral health side of medicine and was skilled as a drug and alcohol counselor.

Throughout it all, he was playing ball for the Air Force. 

Greg began officiating in 2022.

Brandon was born in England when Greg was stationed there. He moved to live with his mother in Atlanta in the third grade.

He says he really appreciated the military influence on life structure and discipline.

Brandon was rather short until his senior year in high school, when he shot up to match his father at 6 foot 6 inches tall.

That caught the eye of the varsity coach at Berkmar High School in Gwinnett County, Georgia.

With the growth spurt, “somehow it all clicked” and his court skills gelled, Brandon said.

After high school he attended Gainesville State College in Georgia.

He also grew three more inches, to his current 6 foot, 9 inches.

He enlisted in the Air Force at age 21, In 2011.

“We never talked about him going into the Air Force,” Greg recalls. Brandon just made the decision on his own.

Brandon works as a radiology technician, specifically in the use of the MRI, he said. He enjoyed playing basketball in the Air Force and was selected for the Air Force 2017 men’s basketball trail camp.

He spent 13 years in the Air Force, was a staff sergeant, and then turned his eye to officiating, just like his father.

Why did he give up organized competition? 

He didn’t have the same passion for playing basketball anymore, he said. 

“I wanted a new challenge.” 

He began training as a referee and worked local games. “You climb up through your local board,” Brandon said.

He advanced to be officiating NCAA Division II and Division III, and he is in the NBA development program.

“The NBA is the dream,” Brandon said. He said he is “two steps in, with two steps to go” with the NBA.

“When you’re ready to advance, they’ll advance you,” he said.

His father loves being an official, but he also wants to slow down a bit.

“I think it’s time to settle down,” Greg said. “I have decided not to work. I am not retiring,” he pointed out.

So, what is in Greg’s future?

“It’s time to do me. I love to travel. It’s my turn,” he said.