Jerome "Tra" Blake is an
American football official
In gridiron football, an official is a person who has responsibility in enforcing the rules and maintaining the order of the game.
During professional and most college football games, seven officials operate on the field. Since 2015, Division I ...
in the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
(NFL) since the
2020 NFL season
The 2020 NFL season was the 101st season of the National Football League (NFL). The regular season started with the NFL Kickoff Game on September 10, in which defending Super Bowl LIV champion Kansas City defeated Houston. The playoffs were ...
, wearing uniform number 33 until ; he now wears uniform number 3.
Career
Blake officiated in
Conference USA
Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...
and the
Atlantic Coast Conference
The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...
, where he worked at deep wing and referee positions.
Blake was also a referee for the
Alliance of American Football
The Alliance of American Football (AAF) was a professional American football minor league. The AAF consisted of eight centrally owned and operated teams in the southern and western United States, seven of which were located in metropolitan are ...
in 2019 and the
XFL
XFL may refer to:
Sports
* XFL (2001), a defunct American football league that played its only season in 2001
* XFL (2020), a professional American football league
Vehicles
* Bell XFL Airabonita, a 1940 U.S. Navy experimental interceptor aircra ...
in 2020.
Blake was hired by the NFL in 2020 as a field judge. He was re-assigned to the umpire position in 2021, and was promoted to referee for the start of the
2022 NFL season
The 2022 NFL season is the 103rd season of the National Football League (NFL). The season began on September 8, 2022, with the defending Super Bowl LVI champion Los Angeles Rams falling to Buffalo in the NFL Kickoff Game, and will end on Ja ...
following the retirement of
Tony Corrente
Anthony Joseph Corrente (born November 12, 1951) is a former American football official in the National Football League (NFL) who served for 26 years from 1995 until his retirement in 2021. He wore uniform number 99. He was the referee of Super ...
.
[ He became the eighth African-American NFL official to be promoted to the referee position in their career.
Blake was the referee during the biggest come-from-behind victory in NFL history when the Vikings rallied to win after falling behind by 33 points. The game was not without controversy for Blake as two apparent fumble recoveries for defensive touchdowns by Chandon Sullivan were nullified due to the plays being blown dead by Blake's crew.
]
2022 Crew
*R: Tra Blake
Personal life
Blake resides in Clermont, Florida
Clermont is a city in Lake County in central Florida, United States, about west of Orlando and southeast of Leesburg. The population was 43,021 in 2020. The city is residential in character and its economy is centered in retail trade, lodging, ...
. Outside of the NFL, Blake is a quality assurance director for an Orlando
Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...
-based pharmaceutical software company.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blake, Tra
Living people
African-American sports officials
National Football League officials
Year of birth missing (living people)
People from Clermont, Florida