COLUMBIA, S.C. — Dennis O'Keefe worked his first game as an on-the-field official in 1975.
Since then, he has worked 659 high school games with his final game coming this Friday at Newberry High School.
The Columbia-based official is retiring after 50 years and he purposely chose this week's game to close out his career of working on the field.
O'Keefe says working as a high school official has allowed him to make countless friends and he says that commradare with his colleagues is what he will miss most.
The final tally of 660 games as a high school official does not count the countless youth footbal games he has worked along with being a former baseball umpire and basketball official.