West Chester, Pa. -- One thing certain about Tim Donaghy, the former NBA referee who is at the center of a federal sports gambling investigation, is that he left an impression.
Longtime friend Frank Capece, a New Jersey attorney, described Donaghy as a "good, decent guy who, if he had a weakness, it's that he wanted to give his family everything."
A neighbor of Donaghy's here, where the referee lived until 2005, developed a far different opinion.
"Tim could change in a minute," said Pete Mansueto, who filed a lawsuit against his onetime friend of 15 years in which Donaghy was accused of stalking and harassing Mansueto's family. The suit was dropped after Donaghy moved to Bradenton, Fla. "One minute he'd help an old lady across the street, and the next he'd knock her down if she stood in the way of a dollar."
NBA commissioner David Stern this week characterized Donaghy, 40, who had been an NBA referee for 13 seasons until he resigned July 9, as a "rogue" official who tainted the league's reputation by allegedly betting on pro basketball games. The FBI reportedly is also looking into whether Donaghy supplied inside information to underworld gambling figures or perhaps even influenced game scores and outcomes with his calls.
Until late last week when news broke that Donaghy was under the scrutiny of federal investigators, he was a little-known actor in the universe of big-time sports. Now, his activities over the past few years have the potential to rock a sports league already struggling with image problems and waning TV popularity.
What has emerged about Donaghy -- who is married and has four daughters -- from sources familiar with him, court documents and published reports is that gambling was a favorite pursuit and that he had the capacity for unpredictable, sometimes abusive behavior.
John Lauro, Donaghy's attorney, did not return calls seeking a comment.
A man who answered the phone listed for Gerald Donaghy, the referee's father and a former Atlantic Coast Conference referee, declined to comment.
An NBA referee who was a friend of Donaghy's and lived nearby in Pennsylvania also declined to comment.
Donaghy's legal problems with the Mansuetos were just one of several serious confrontations Donaghy had with others, including a reported incident in which he attempted to run a mail carrier off the road after the postal worker had accidentally knocked over a recycling container at the referee's home.
