The history of the Fox 40 whistle
Ron Foxcroft introduced his Fox 40 Whistle, a revolutionary pealess design at the 1987 Pan American Games in Indianapolis. As a renowned professional basketball referee, Ron had been the victim of many unforeseeable incidents involving faulty pea whistles.
The most embarrassing of these incidents took place at the Montreal Olympics during the Gold Medal game. A player with the Yugoslavian national team elbowed a U.S. team member. Ron blew the whistle but nothing happened. The pea had jammed and Ron was booed and hissed by thousands of disgruntled fans. They thought he had missed the call.
Determined to never again face such humiliation Ron took it upon himself to design a new faultless whistle, one that would never jam or fail.
Ron invented the world famous Fox 40 Whistle and the first time it was blown at the Pan American Games it set a new tone for all referees. Fox 40 Whistles can be heard in arenas, stadiums and gymnasiums in more than 130 countries. It is the sanctioned whistle for referees and officials in several professional and amateur sports leagues including the NBA, NFL, NHL, FIFA and the NCAA
Ron Foxcroft soon discovered that his whistles were being used by police, fire and rescue professionals around the world. He has now developed a wide range of Fox 40 whistles for rescue workers, lifeguards, school crossing guards, boaters and for individual safety use.
Hope you enjoy a bit of officiating history.
Todd
Here is a PDF file on how the FOX 40 is made Download Fox 40 pdf
