<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Los Angeles a couple of years ago, a day off between games for NBA referee Joe Crawford. His colleagues had decided to have lunch in nearby Venice Beach, a pleasant respite from the job at hand. Crawford, uncharacteristically, declined. He was going, he said, to the Los Angeles Museum of Art to view two pieces, to compare and contrast them and write a paper on the subject. "They looked at me as if I were nuts," Crawford recalled, laughing. Crawford, who will turn 57 on Aug. 30, has been a referee in the league since 1977 and has worked more playoff and Finals games than any of his active colleagues, including the clinching Game 6 of the recently completed Finals in which the Boston Celtics defeated the Lakers for their first title since 1985-86. "I went to the museum, spent several hours there, took notes, went back and did my work," Crawford said. "It was enlightening." He has completed the last of five courses he has taken online and on campus via Neumann College's continuing adult and professional studies program. With that final course - learning Spanish - he has completed his degree in liberal studies. "My wife [Mary] said, 'I didn't know you were a liberal,' " Crawford said, laughing. "I said, 'I am now.' " His plan is to participate in formal graduation ceremonies in May of next year. They say you can't rewind life. But Joe Crawford, a graduate of Cardinal O'Hara High, decided he could, at the very least, catch up on some things he had missed.</div> Philly Daily News
