Live Tour with NFL Officiating Expert - Mike Pereira

Posted by Callee Setzer, Photos By: John Swentowsky on Jan 19, 2017
 
President Dan McVeigh’s introduction to Tuesday’s meeting noted the celebration of his 66th birthday last weekend, to which he said, “I am officially getting old”.  He also referenced the correlation between the 1968 election of Richard Nixon and this weeks’ change of power at the inauguration. 
 
Our thought of the day given by PP John Frisch (Cornish and Carey Commercial RE) was a reference to our guest speaker.  No matter what sport we all love to support there is always a call or two that we blame on the officials.  John reminded us that we should “give them a break, their jobs are tough”.
 
President Dan introduced the head table and thanked the musical director Aaron French (Zanker Recycling), our pianist Randy Friedman (US Navy), and our greeters Diane Schachterle (American Civil Rights Institute) and Denise Santiago (Golden Pacific Bank).  Our Sergeant-At-Arms, Tom Bacon (Kidder Mathews), introduced 20 guests, 9 perspective Rotarians and 1 visiting Rotarian.  Several comments were made that our packed meeting was most likely due to our guest speaker, Mike Pereira. 
 
Tuesday’s meeting sponsor was Dennis Smith (Tsakopoulos Management) who donated his money and kindly gave his time to Gina Smith, the Director of Education for the California Musical Theater.  She spoke about the outreach and educational programs the Musical Theater offers throughout the year, from youth training to internship programs earning college credit.
 
President Dan returned to the podium requesting PDG and PP Fred Teichert (Teichert Foundation) to join him. Benefactor Award presented to Fred for his lifelong generous commitment to the Legacy and the Foundation of Rotary.
 
The introduction of our newest member followed.  PP Dave Murphy (Retired) and Ken Adamson (Beverage Distribution) co-sponsored Theresa Rodgers, the President and Principal of St. Francis High School.  She began her Rotary journey on a scholarship in 92-93 in Bath, England, which she noted, “was the basis for a life changing appreciation for Rotary.”
 
 
John McIntyre (Mercy Foundation) came up next to introduce Karen Cendro of the Rotary Youth Exchange program.  Our Club has sponsored outbound student Noah Wadhwani and his family were called to the front of the room.  Noah loves to play the guitar and tennis.  He is passionate about foreign affairs, climate change and ISIS.  Karen also noted he was the top student in this year’s group.  She handed him the envelope containing the country to which he was awarded.  His top three countries were Argentina, Spain and Germany.  He opened the envelope and a huge smile covered his face, he will indeed be off to Argentina during the next school year.  He thanked the club and shared his hopes that the experience will shape his future.
 
 
A unique Rotary funded experience was shared with us by PP Walter Dahl’s (Dahl Law) daughter, Ellen Dahl, the Mama Maji Kenya Water Project.  The project is the building of rainwater collection systems for sanitary usage by women in Kenya.  She spent two weeks in Kenya meeting with the chief and women’s groups for support on the project.  She and her group promoted the use of local construction workers to create the water collection system, assuring Fred Teichert they will not be competition.  Ellen shared several pictures of the systems installation, one of which included her digging the ground hole for the system.  She also thanked the Rotary club for her experience. 
 
Club Announcements:  Dave Higdon (California Moving Systems) asked everyone to bring their significant other to the Rotary meeting on Valentine’s Day, Feb14.  He also encouraged everyone to send in their wedding photos to be shared during the meeting.  Diane Schachterle reminded us to sign up for the Brown Bag Day on January 31st.  John Swentowsky (Swentowsky Photography) let us know that future Loaves and Fishes events will be moved from Tuesday to the 5th Thursday of the month. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Mik Miklaus (Integrity Mortgage) fittingly introduced our guest speaker, Mike Pereira, the Former Vice President of officiating for the NFL, Fox Sports Commentator and Sac Bee columnist.  After a busy Divisional Playoff weekend in the NFL, Mike Pereira joined the Rotary Club of Sacramento for our weekly meeting.  Being an official in the NFL is the most unappreciated job and yet officials make 1600 full speed decisions per game with 97.8% of them being correct.  In 1/26th of a second the officials make up their minds, process what they see, and make the call often times causing jeers and sneers from the crowds and teams.  While most fans care about great catches, Mike cares far more about the officials “nailing” the calls.  He referenced the call Robert Vernatchi made on Sunday during the GB Packers vs. Dallas Cowboys game.  From the sidelines last Sunday, Robert made the difficult call and Mike praised him for sticking to his guns with his decision and trusting his instincts.  Mike knew early on that Robert would be a very talented official.  With all of the action on the field it would be easy to second guess calls or make a call and not quite know what they saw since everything happens so fast.  The officials take all of the abuse of the outcomes of calls, from teams to players and fans so their confidence in decision-making is paramount. 
 
About a year and a half ago, Pereira took a long drive to Oregon, by himself, without the radio, in order to clear the thoughts in his head and focus on his legacy.  He thought about his legacy and how much time he has left to make an impact on the officiating world.  With numbers dwindling over the years in the youth sports official community, he decided to start a foundation called Battlefields to Ballfields.  It is currently a pilot program in Los Angeles, giving US Military Veterans the chance to learn the rules of officiating from experienced referees.  The foundation pays for all of the necessary equipment that an official needs, uniforms, equipment, insurance, training, and invaluable mentorship.  He hopes to start pilot programs in New York, Columbus, Ohio and San Antonio, Texas.
 
Mike says officials are part of a close-knit family, which military veterans can relate too being in the battlefields.  He referenced a few of the struggling Vets who have started in the program.  Thomas, a sonar technician with a nuclear submarine force, returned to a job stocking shelves at a Trader Joe’s until his back went out.  Anthony had completed two tours in Iraq, has a family and was contemplating suicide.  These men have the characteristics it takes to officiate; it brings them back to a team environment, with goals and appreciation for each other.  They can relate from their past experiences on the battlefield and feel confident in themselves again.  Thomas is the first Battlefields to Ballfields scholarship recipient to officiate a football game. 
 
With Pereira’s legacy being his main focus, he knows today’s officials do an incredible job and is proud to be part of the future of rebuilding the youth sports officials’ numbers.  On June 19th, Pereira is hosting a golf tournament at Del Paso Country Club to raise money and awareness to his legacy, Battlefields to Ballfields.