Giles Threadgold, a pesky winger on the 1949 national champion Boston College hockey team, had a flair for showmanship and a reputation as a stickler for the rules in his roles as a hockey and football referee and a baseball umpire.

“I love officiating,’’ Mr. Threadgold once told Larry Ames, a former high school sports editor at the Globe. “You can’t always play the game, but through officiating I’ve been able to stay close to the sports world.’’

In 1967, in addition to officiating — including the NCAA hockey championship game — Mr. Threadgold was hockey coach at Boston District League power Charlestown High School. He also taught developmentally disabled children at the Woodrow Wilson school in Dorchester and was president of the Association of New England Football Officials and the Eastern Massachusetts Baseball Umpires Association.

“Giles had an incredible energy level and was one of the busiest people I ever knew,’’ Ames recalled. “I saw him officiate in all three sports and he was one of the best.’’

Mr. Threadgold, who had been a referee at an Army-Navy football game and an umpire at the College World Series, died of cancer Dec. 18 in Harbor Grace Hospice in Atlanta. He was 92 and a longtime Falmouth resident.

“He was a character, the way he bantered with players and coaches,’’ said his former hockey refereeing partner Bill Cleary, a 1960 US Olympic and Harvard University star and former Harvard hockey coach and athletic director. “Giles was always on the go, and if everyone knew him, that’s the way he wanted it.’’

Mr. Threadgold also was known for his memorable ad-libs as a referee. More than four decades ago, Paul Haley was a forward on the Harvard team that defeated Cornell, 6-4, in the Eastern College Athletic Conference semifinals at Boston Garden in 1975. Haley was racing for a puck in Harvard’s zone that night when he was slammed to the ice by a Cornell player.

“Giles called the penalty, and when the player asked what for — and not very politely — Giles responded, ‘For attempted murder,’ ’’ recalled Haley, a former state representative from Weymouth.

Hockey East commissioner Joe Bertagna, a hockey goalie at Arlington High School and at Harvard, was a football team manager in high school. “Giles would walk right into an offensive huddle and tell the players that they could ‘waltz’ through the other team,’’ Bertagna recalled. “He loved what he did and he was one of the great personalities in college hockey.’’

Mr. Threadgold, who had close-cropped hair and whose playing weight was around 145 pounds, was a Boston College football cheerleader his junior year, and a varsity fourth-string quarterback his senior year.

“I’d like to show them that it is possible to throw a forward pass to a cheerleader,’’ he quipped to the Globe during the 1950 football season.

His son Billy of Newport Beach, Calif., said Mr. Threadgold “was typically one of the smaller players on his teams. He had the attitude of always getting up when he was knocked down and shaking it off. Survival of the fittest was the way he could get ahead, and it drove him.’’

Mr. Threadgold wasn’t a star on Boston College’s 1949 championship squad, but he played an important role as a checker and agitator.

“Giles worked like hell at being the best player he could be and he was a good teammate,’’ said 1949 Eagles standout Len Ceglarski, who went on to coach at BC and what is now Clarkson University. Ceglarski added that “as an official, he let you know who was the boss, and he deserved his prestigious assignments because of his integrity.’’

In February 1971, however, Mr. Threadgold’s comments in a Cornell University hockey publication resulted in a censure from ECAC commissioner Scotty Whitelaw. The publication quoted Mr. Threadgold as saying that Jack Kelley, who was then Boston University’s head hockey coach, “has always been a loser.’’ BU athletic department officials objected to the statements and Whitelaw removed Mr. Threadgold as an official for BU’s remaining games that season. The interview was “totally blown out of proportion,’’ Mr. Threadgold told the Globe at the time.

Former BU head hockey coach Jack Parker, who had also refereed with Mr. Threadgold, said that “as far as that Cornell interview goes, if it was a BU or BC publication, he’d probably have said something similar about Cornell and their coach at the time, Ned Harkness. Giles liked the limelight and played to the crowd, but not in a negative way. He knew the rule book and he was a good referee for a long time.’’

Giles Ernest Threadgold was the only child of William Threadgold and the former Rose Gallant. A 1942 Newton High School graduate, Mr. Threadgold served in the Army during World War II, including during the Battle of the Bulge, and was awarded two Purple Hearts.

A 1951 BC graduate, he received a master’s in social work from Boston University in 1955.

While coaching for five seasons at Charlestown High, Mr. Threadgold compiled a 54-3-3 record and guided his hockey teams to five Boston District League titles, qualifying every year for the state tournament. He left coaching in 1968 to take a job as guidance counselor at Bigelow Junior High in Newton.

Mr. Threadgold was also a sidekick to talk show host Howie Carr on WRKO-AM radio for several years. During his Dec. 22 broadcast, Carr paid tribute to Mr. Threadgold, saying “he enjoyed life as much as anyone I ever saw.’’

Mr. Threadgold’s marriage to Mary Dougherty, with whom he had five children, ended in divorce. She died in 2012.

A burial service was held at Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne for Mr. Threadgold, who in addition to his son Billy leaves his wife, the former Sheila Abreu; his daughters, Mary Anne of Falmouth, Kim of Weston, and Kathy Threadgold-Hulme of Framingham; another son, Kevin of Bass Harbor, Maine; and two grandchildren.

“Giles brought personality to the game and a certain flair to each arena he entered,’’ said BC hockey coach Jerry York. “I will sorely miss his presence.’’

Among Mr. Threadgold’s most cherished possessions was his BC cheerleader sweater.

“Dad always told us that when faced with a difficult task, push forward and find a way to accomplish your goals,’’ Mary Anne said. “He wanted us to have good educations, good jobs, and good friends.’’

Marvin Pave can be reached at marvin.pave@rcn.com.