Supporting A Cause Close to Our Hearts: Battlefields 2 Ballfields Officials Philly

Jerry has been set on spreading the word about Battlefields to Ballfields Officials with a recent appearance on JAKIB Sports' Cooney Brothers sees the importance of Jerry’s work with B2B Officials Philly and we are proud to support the nonprofit through our Brandon Graham Signed Eagles Jersey Raffle in which $10 from every new registration will be donated to B2B! There is still time to enter for your chance to win and help us make an even bigger contribution as we have extended the deadline until next Friday, March 21st.

One of the organization’s other biggest and earliest partners has been JAKIB Sports who has given Jerry the opportunity to discuss the growing nonprofit on multiple live shows including their Eagles Super Bowl Parade Live Stream where Cooney Brothers proudly hosted the show in front of City Hall atop our new flatbed truck! You can watch Jerry’s segment at about 1:11:30 on their YouTube stream, and you can read more about our involvement in the broadcast on our Cooney Connection Blog. 

The incredible support that JAKIB Sports and founder, Joe Krause have given B2B Officials Philly goes all the way back to before the organization even launched. Jerry was invited to discuss his work on JAKIB’s Eagles vs Commanders Pre-Game Show (1:01:40) and on their Eagles vs Buccaneers Pre-Game Show (1:08:15) alongside hosts former Eagles linebacker Seth Joyner, NFL reporter Derek Gunn, and sports radio host Marc Farzetta.

“We go out, find Veterans, and train them at the ground level to become officials. We teach them in the classroom and on the field,” Jerry explained. “I like to teach people who want to learn. If you find a mentor that’s actually interested in helping people, you’re going to get a lot more out of the experience.”

Just like Battlefields 2 Ballfields, Jerry has mentored, trained, advised, and recommended countless officials, helping them excel through varsity, collegiate, and even NFL levels. Knowing what a good mentor can mean for someone who’s new to the game like he once was, Jerry aims to use years of experience and expertise to help veterans in the exact same way through B2B Officials Philly. He could have never predicted that what started as just a way to stay active after brain surgery would grow into something so much bigger.

Jerry was assigned to his first football officiating crew in 1999; a crew he will never forget. They were led by referee Jim Stevenson, who immediately saw Jerry’s potential and encouraged the rest of the crew to take him in and mentor him. With these officials and so many others as a resource over the years for help and advice, Jerry quickly excelled from working kids football to reaching the collegiate level in just 6 years. This is the kind of pay-it-forward mentality that Jerry uses when helping officials get their start, especially veterans.

Before B2B was even a thought, Jerry was working with officials who would soon become big names in collegiate, NFL, and even Super Bowl officiating. He still keeps in touch with many of the officials that he helped jump-start or move to the next level, including former Eagles linebacker William Thomas, D1 Official Art Brown, and especially D1 Official Kevin Reese. Kevin is one the officials that Jerry and Sam have both have a close connection to as Jerry brought him into football officiating from basketball and Sam still works with him to this day. Jerry also made major contributions to the success of the Wounded Warrior Amputee Flag Football Team where he worked with former Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworksi and earned himself a proud endorsement from WWAFT co-founder Chris Visser.

“I’m happiest seeing where the people I’ve worked with and mentored go,” Jerry explained. “That’s more important to me. That, just like my experience with Jim Stevenson, he had no reason to help me and bring me on the crew. But he did. And I want to do that for veterans.”

It wasn’t until Jerry stopped officiating for a few years that he started to realize just how much being part of a crew had helped him as a veteran. In 2020, a couple years after this break began, Jerry was diagnosed as disabled. This forced him to confront the PTSD that had gone mostly unaddressed since returning from the Marine Corps in 1988. Jerry took a hard look at what had helped him cope in the past and with the guidance of a VA (Veterans Affairs) doctor, he realized just how much of a comfort zone officiating had provided him with.

    

“For me, when I got out of the Marine Corps, I lost the responsibility of my squad. Not just my squad, my family,” Jerry described. "And that’s how I am on the field. I’m not gonna let you do anything stupid, and I’m not gonna let you get hurt. You take care of each other.”

It is this sense of responsibility for one another that is so reminiscent of what it’s like to be in the military. The need to look out for one another is at every veteran’s core and it’s an attitude that is contagious. Mike Perreira is no exception as he was happy to help Jerry get B2B Officials Philly started, quickly jumping in to supply learning materials and programs.

Jerry’s daughter, Cooney Brothers Inside Sales Representative and B2B Officials Philly President Sam Parisi, was involved in Battlefields 2 Ballfields from the start. As a successful D1 college football official, Sam knows the importance of making space for female officials and encouraging them to break the mold. With only about 24% to as low as 10% of officials across all sports being women, both Sam and Jerry have set out plans to grow this representation in the future through B2B. Together, the B2B Officials founder and president create a team that has a deep understanding of what it’s like to start an officiation career from both a Veteran’s and a woman’s perspective.

“I see this as a way to give back not just for him,” Sam said referring to Jerry. “But for any Vet that feels lost from the service they’ve been in.”

And that’s exactly what Battlefields 2 Ballfields Officials Philly has done with local Veteran, Oliver Cross.

One of B2B Official Philly’s partners, the Greater Philadelphia Veterans Network, introduced Jerry to Oliver who showed an enthusiastic interest in becoming an official. Oliver was quick to learn the ins and outs in the classroom and on the field, especially as someone who was completely new to officiating. Jerry praised how Oliver can talk to players and other officials, saying that he sees him as a referee that could really make it somewhere one day with his developing leadership and ability to pick up everything he’s taught immediately. While Oliver is the first Veteran trained by B2B to get his PIAA Officiating certification, he still attends training with Jerry every other Wednesday as well as football officiating clinics led by PIAA or even NFL officials.    

Jerry, Sam, and the rest of the trainers have already done so much meaningful work through B2B Officials Philly and there is only more to come. Jerry hopes to soon get more Vets to the same level as Oliver, simply stating his mission for the future of B2B:

“I want to reach Vets. There’s so many ways you can be involved in sports that can help you…Getting a crew together and getting it to work keeps you focused on the things that matter; the game!”