C’mon Ref! Loram Legend’s excuse for skipping work
Would you believe Loram employed an executive who never bothered to show up to work on Fridays?
Well, at least in the fall and somehow, he got away with it!
In 2024, former Loram VP of Sales & Marketing, Tom DeJoseph celebrated his retirement and there’s one part of his story that deserves re-telling.
When people asked on Friday’s in the fall “Where’s Tom?” he was able to get some excused absences. You see, Tom loves trains but he also loves American football. So much so that after his playing days, he put on another uniform and was part of the game as a big-time college football referee.
“I was part of 16 bowl games, three Liberty Bowls in there, two Alamo Bowls, it was quite the run,” DeJoseph said. “While I was a Big East and ACC referee, we did a lot of interesting road games including Texas A&M, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Air Force Academy, Ohio State and Notre Dame multiple times.”
Tom was the referee on the field, the guy in charge of the game who does the opening coin toss, coordinates with the other officials and announces the penalties to the crowd and TV audience. Like an athlete, he worked his way up the ranks of high school and smaller colleges before landing a job with the Big East and eventually working with the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
Tom would need to be at the game site one day prior, so that usually meant Friday’s were vacation days for him in the fall when he worked at Loram.
His biggest memory: serving as referee for the 2006 Army – Navy game.
“To get the opportunity to be the referee on the Army-Navy game, it was the dream of a lifetime in terms of a football dream.”
He’d do one more in this historic matchup as a replay official and says the memories of that game provide a larger lasting message.
“The game itself is not important, what is important to see is the camaraderie of those young men, on the battlefield a football field literally and knowing at the end of that game most of the seniors would never play another football game again,” DeJoseph said. “Many of those seniors would go to war and never see another football game.”
Tom has one more wild memory that made college football history. In 2007, Notre Dame was playing an early season game against Navy. As the home team, Notre Dame was heavily favored and traditionally had no problem against the military academy school. The Irish held a 43-game winning streak.
The nationally televised game went into multiple overtimes and there was a controversial pass interference call on a two-point conversion that would have tied the game. Click the link below to hear another legendary guy named Tom: NBC’s Tom Hammond, call the play and hear Tom’s announcement of the penalty.
https://youtu.be/z_Fsv7E3MKw?si=vr5lhXKrMDi9DztK&t=1270
Tom says he wasn’t the guy who threw the flag on the play and despite the loss, then Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis told him after the game it was a well-officiated contest.
Not bad for a weekend hobby to get paid to have the best view of a game. All in a career for Tom DeJoseph.
“Trains, football and Loram, it’s been a wonderful ride.” DeJoseph said.
Note: Tom is a big supporter of the Danbury (CT) Railway Museum. It’s a former train station and happens to be where Tom began his railroad career more than 50 years ago. To donate to the museum or plan a visit, check out danburyrail.org.
