He worked for it. He earned it.
Damned if he was going to let a hellish mountain pass and darkness stop Darren Zupp from getting his pay.
Zupp, from Vernon, was a hockey official assigned to work three Western Hockey League exhibition games with Kelowna’s Dave McClellan and a young linesman from Osoyoos, circa the late 1980s, early 1990s. He and McClellan were Level 6 officials, the highest ranking any hockey referee could achieve, and they traded off refereeing and lining the pre-season tilts.
After the final contest in Castlegar, the trio started to make their way back to the Okanagan with Zupp behind the wheel. They made a stop at a pullout near Castlegar so they could change out of their shirt and ties, and into something more comfortable for the drive home.
They made a stop in Grand Forks, about 50 minutes away from that pullout, when McClellan discovered he didn’t have his wallet, which just happened to contain the threesome’s weekend cash for meals, travel, and game wages.
“I pulled everything out of my pants and put it all on top of the car,” said McClellan, remembering his long-time friend Zupp who died at age 63 in his sleep on one last family cruise Oct. 12 (same day as his late mom Marilyn’s birthday. Marilyn passed in 2020).
Zupp’s death came 10 weeks after he was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer.
“The wallet had my money, Darren’s money, the kid’s money. I figured out it fell off the top of the car.”
Rather than write it off, as McClellan suggested, Zupp would have none of that. He made the other two get back in the car and headed over the Blueberry-Paulson Mountain Pass as they went in search of a wallet on the road.
They found it when Zupp’s headlights caught a pile of stuff in the middle of the highway, which included McClellan’s wallet with the cash.
“I told him I’d just write it off but he wouldn’t hear of it,” laughed McClellan. “Nope, nope, nope. I’m going back, I’m going back.”
Zupp was born in Wetaskiwin, Alta., and began playing hockey at age eight. His family moved to Vernon a year later and Zupp – a big Ken Dryden fan – began playing goal in Senior Pups.
He backstopped the Vernon Coca Cola Juvenile Reps to the Western Canadian championship in the 1979-80 season after getting in a few games with the Merritt Centennials and Vernon Canadians in the British Columbia Junior Hockey League the year before. He experienced a tough eight-win year with the Lakers in 1980-81, so Zupp knew the highs and lows of hockey.
“My first junior game was with the Vernon Canadians in Revelstoke and we lost 8-4,” said Zupp in a September 2004 interview with the B.C. Hockey League . “They scored 19 seconds into the game and I was wondering what I had got myself into. I stopped (future NHL forward) Ron Flockhart three times on breakaways so that was a highlight.”
Zupp began officiating hockey games at age 12 and loved it right away, earning $2 per game and a hot chocolate.
His first BCJHL ref assignment was a 1981 exhibition game between the Vernon Lakers and Revelstoke Bruins. Zupp would dish out 19 game misconducts and one match penalty, en route to a game total of 360 penalty minutes.
He would go on to work close to 800 Junior A games, and earned some prestigious awards along the way, including BC Amateur Hockey Association Official-of-the-Year and Canadian Amateur Hockey Association Most Deserving Official in 1993.
Zupp and McClellan worked the 1990 Centennial Cup Canadian Junior A Championship in Vernon, and Zupp did the 1998 Royal Bank Cup in Nanaimo. A smooth, strong skater, Zupp survived three decades with consistent work and a willingness to listen.
In his interview with the BCJHL, Zupp said, “I’ve always had a good rapport with players. It’s just a mutual respect. I wasn’t a smart-ass, I never lipped anybody. I never had the gift of the gab so I never used that. I just did my job and was professional.”
While his No. 1 fan, his wife of 36 years, Karen, used to be bothered by the catcalls and insults hurled at him by fans, Zupp never took anything personal.
“I tuned out most of it. I don’t hear the fans. And with the high glass these days, they’re just wasting their time.”
Zupp said the famous Section B crew at the old Vernon Civic Arena – located right behind the penalty boxes and the time keeper’s box – added to the game atmosphere.
“They were always fun,” he recalled. “They tried to get a rise out of me but all they got was a grin out of me. A couple of them I worked with. They would tell me, ‘We’re coming just to bug you.’”
Zupp listed past Vernon stars like Kori Davison and Scott Longstaff, Vernon team owners Mel Lis and Duncan Wray, and Lakers coach Eddie Johnstone as class acts towards officials.
“The only thing I didn’t do in my whole career was make the NHL, but I met Karen and we have two beautiful children,” he told the BCJHL. “I have no regrets.”
He ended his career working a BCHL final series in 2004 in Salmon Arm, getting the standard $70 a game and mileage while as is custom picking up the post-game tab for his linesmen.
Former Vernon Vipers head coach Mike Vandekamp called Zupp a BCHL icon.
“Every coach who has coached in this league is familiar with him and the players are familiar with him,” said Vandekamp. “I always thought Darren was a fair guy, an easy guy to talk to. He seemed to care and when you’re coaching and playing, that’s all you can ask for is a referee who cares.
“I personally thought he got better every year…I also liked the fact that he didn’t hold a grudge. Three days after a game, you could walk up and talk to him.”
Away from the rink, Zupp was a shift worker for 24 years at the old Lavington Glass Plant. He cycled and roller bladed to stay in shape for officiating.
He was a constant source of strength, kindness, and leadership in the North Okanagan. Whether behind the bench coaching kids’ hockey or on the ice as a dedicated referee, coaching lacrosse and baseball or on the field coaching master women’s soccer, or simply lending a hand wherever needed, Zupp made a lasting impact on countless lives.
Zupp was the middle of five children, behind older sisters Charlene and Leona, and ahead of brother Terry and youngest sibling, his sister, Shelley.
He was a devoted husband to Karen and a loving father to two boys, Dallas and Brenden.
“Family was always Darren’s priority and his weekly visits with Terry and weekly pool games with our 94-year-old dad, Gary, showed his goodness as a son and brother,” said Shelley.
“He reffed with fairness and integrity and touched so many lives in a positive way through coaching hockey, softball and soccer. He will be deeply missed by his family and friends.”
And that includes his friend Mac, aka, McClellan.
“I lost a bit of a soul mate for what we used to do, and the culture that we participated in,” he said. “We were so fortunate to come through hockey together. You did the best job you could with the tools you had, and he garnered a lot of respect for that.”
A service for Zupp will be held Saturday, Nov. 8, at 1 p.m. at the Vernon Alliance Church.
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