Joe DeRosa is a stickler for precision.
At a small warehouse in Canton, he inspects freshly printed fabric for imperfections. A massive mechanical press has just transferred black and white stripes from a paper sheet onto cloth. He labels one “iffy”, another “not bad.”
“It's one at a time. Nothing changes. There's no shortcuts – everything has to be done that way,” he said.
Canton is known for its role in founding the NFL. But just down the road from the flashy Football Hall of Fame, DeRosa’s small family-owned business is making quieter sports history. His company manufactures shirts, pants and hats for sport’s top shot-callers: referees.
“Every college football game you watch on TV has this ‘S’ on it,” DeRosa said.
The ‘S’ on their uniform stands for Smitty Officials Apparel. The Canton-based company is one of the biggest suppliers of clothes for officials in baseball, football, lacrosse, wrestling and basketball, among others.
“I said, ‘Dad, I hate referees.’ And that's how it all got started”
Before managing Smitty, DeRosa was “managing” the court for some of the best basketball players in the world. He refereed games for NBA and college basketball for decades.
Before he made it to the big leagues, DeRosa was a cash-strapped college student. Over one Thanksgiving break, he asked his dad for a loan.
“He said, ‘I'm not loaning you any money, you can start refereeing,’” DeRosa recounted. “I said, ‘Dad, I hate referees.’ And that's how it all got started.”
He went on to referee, or officiate, more than a thousand regular season games in the NBA. He’s one of just two people that have officiated an Olympics medal-round game, the NBA Finals and the NCAA Men’s Final Four – earning him an induction into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame in 2023.
All the first-hand experience helps him to design officials’ uniforms, he said.
“When I was out in refereeing, [other officials and I] just talked about all the different ideas that came up to maybe get new products,” he said. “I’d listen to guys and ask guys questions and take their feedback.”
There’s plenty to consider in the designs, like whether the refs will need stretchy material to squat over home plate or sweat-wicking fabric for running down the court.
30 styles of umpire pants
Some Smitty items are imported from overseas. But, DeRosa said they make as many uniforms as they can in-house with a small team of employees.
“If someone wanted a shirt, walked in here and said ‘I need this shirt, I have a game in three hours,’ we can make it, from start to finish, in about 20 minutes,” he said.
A machine laser cutter quickly carves out the fabric, then veteran seamstress Anicia Delgatto takes over, sewing on logos and making finishing touches.
Referees first started wearing black and white back in the 1920s, after a quarterback accidentally passed a ball to a referee. Stripes have been used ever since to set officials apart from players.
While it may seem like a simple design, DeRosa and Delgatto have to cater to a number of sports, divisions and states. They have more than 30 styles of umpire pants alone.
“For football in California, there are 11 different logos that could go on the right sleeve,” DeRosa said.
Rooting for the referees
For some championships, Smitty Officials Apparel makes shirts with special title game logos.
DeRosa’s wife and business partner Patti DeRosa said sometimes, they add a tag that thanks each individual referee by name.
“It's a thankless job. So that's a way to thank them,” she said.
Joe DeRosa no longer has to contend with frustrated fans and angrier coaches complaining about calls. Still, he says his philosophy is the same in business as in officiating.
“Just have thick skin and hopefully do the best job you can,” he said.
There’s no trophy, or medal for the work. But, like most referees, he doesn’t need the glory to love the game.
