Greg Kaiser has heard it all.

He’s been cursed at. He’s been called every name imaginable. He’s been accused of cheating, of having money on a game.

As the vice president of the West Coast Officials Association, Kaiser’s grown a thick skin. It’s basically a referee’s job requirement.

“Every call you make half the people are very happy, and half the people are very angry,” Kaiser said. “So you have to kind of learn how to tune that out.”

Game officials used to only have to worry about verbal abuse. After an incident in Texas, now they have to worry about physical abuse. A violent line was crossed recently when two Texas high school players blindsided a referee, tackling him from behind.

“I mean, it’s one thing to boo and call you names and use the profanity and all that, we can deal with that,” Kaiser said. “But when you start taking it to a personal level of a criminal attack of an official, that becomes pretty outrageous.”

So outrageous that states have taken extra steps to protect officials. Florida is one of more than a dozen states that passed a law making it a felony to assault a game official.

“I think a lot of the reasons it's hard to get officials is because, yes there is some abuse they will take,” said Corey Sobers, FHSAA PR Specialist.” Sometimes, unfortunately from team personnel and then certainly from spectators at times.”

In an effort to stockpile more officials at the high school level, the FHSAA  launched a campaign, with help from Dick Vitale, called Get Back In the Game. It encourages former athletes to give back to the sport they played in high school.

On any given Friday night in the fall, nearly 250 high school football games are played across the state of Florida. That’s almost 1,250 officials working games.

Factor in all that officials have to deal with and it’s no coincidence that some states are facing shortages, Florida included.

But Sobers points out the emphasis placed on sportsmanship in the Sunshine State and how most teams and players adhere to it.

“The vast majority of games that take place, everybody will shake hands and at the end of it, there's a respect level for your opponent and for the officials,” Sobers said. “We are very proud that in the vast majority of cases, not only do we not have issues, but usually after the game everybody treats each other respectfully and just proceeds to the next contest.”