Jerome "Tra" Blake is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

official An official is someone who holds an office (function or Mandate (politics), mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual Office, working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (eithe ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(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 (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

and the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

, 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 area ...

in 2019 and the XFL in 2020. Blake was hired by the NFL in 2020 as a field judge. He was reassigned to the umpire position in 2021, and was promoted to referee for the start of the

2022 NFL season The 2022 NFL season was the 103rd season of the National Football League (NFL). The season began on September 8, 2022, with the defending Super Bowl LVI champion 2022 Los Angeles Rams season, Los Angeles Rams falling to 2022 Buffalo Bills sea ...

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 Sup ...

2024 crew

*R: Tra Blake * U: Carl Paganelli * DJ: Patrick Turner * LJ: Tom Eaton * FJ: Mearl Robinson * SJ: Don Willard * BJ: Grantis Bell * RO: Tyler Cerimeli * RA: Tim Robinson On October 24, 2024, during a regular season game between the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

and the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...

, Blake controversially missed a face mask penalty when Rams linebacker Byron Young brought down quarterback

Sam Darnold Sam Richard Darnold (born June 5, 1997) is an American professional American football, football quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the USC Trojans football, USC Trojans, winn ...

in the end zone for a safety.

Reassignment

In 2025, Blake was reassigned back to the umpire position. He was replaced by Alex Moore.

Personal life

Blake resides in

Clermont, Florida Clermont is the most populous city in Lake County, Florida, Lake County, within the U.S. state of Florida. The population was 43,021 in 2020. It is about west of Orlando, Florida, Orlando and southeast of Leesburg, Florida, Leesburg. The cit ...

. Outside of the NFL, Blake is a quality assurance director for an

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

-based pharmaceutical software company.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blake, Tra Living people African-American referees and umpires NFL officials Year of birth missing (living people) Sportspeople from Clermont, Florida American football people from Florida