Football Zebras: Battlefields to Ballfields: Officiating Opportunities for Returning Veterans
By Rich Madrid, Football Zebras, October 5, 2016 A new pilot program in Los Angeles founded by Fox Sports rules analyst and former NFL vice president of officiating Mike Pereira is generating quite a bit of buzz in its first year. It’s called Battlefields to Ballfields, and the program places United States military veterans in the Los […]
Helping veterans become sports officials
By Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times If any coach, player or parent feels inclined to lose their composure and start yelling at football official Thomas Harris, trying to provoke a response, good luck. He has been trained to be cool under pressure. That’s because when you’ve gone through Navy boot camp and served in a […]
1st Scholarship Recipient
1st Battlefields to Ballfields Scholarship Recipient – Thomas Harris By Rick Jaffe Thomas Harris served in the Navy for four years. He’s been officiating about for about four weeks and while one can truly appreciate the work he did on nuclear submarines, Harris now has a greater respect for the men and women who wear […]
A Win-Win — for returning veterans and for officiating
Story by Rick Jaffe What’s it like to fight for your country? Can you imagine? Can any of us? Most of us have no idea, no comprehension of what the brave men and women of this country go through to keep America safe. It goes way beyond the physical pain and mental suffering they’ve endured. […]