My Time in Arena Football, By Jesse Warren of the Oregon Blackbears

I will start by introducing myself. My name is Jesse Warren, I have lived all over Oregon, Washington and parts of Arizona. My family moved around a lot, my parents are divorced and haven’t lived in the same town since they split up, so I was always seeing some place new. I played football and wrestled in school, but I have always had a deep love for all sports. While it didn’t begin this way, I have since worked with multiple sports teams building a career in sports. How did I get there you ask?

“A Deep Love for all sports”

If hockey would’ve been more prevalent in my area growing up, I probably would’ve gone that route. I was always having pickup roller hockey games in my neighborhood and seemed to be better than everyone with my puck handling and skating abilities, but we didn’t have youth ice hockey until recently. I played football through high school. I didn’t put the effort in off the field and was getting hurt a lot and I let my “extra curricular” activities get in the way of my athletic career. 

After school I gave up on the thought of being part of the sports world at all. Got married started a family and began my “working career”. I have been in a leadership role in every job I have held. I started working when I was 12 with children and adults with intellectual disabilities during the summer when I would go to Arizona, helping take them to baseball games arcades, camping trips, helping get daily routines down, anything they needed help with daily life and also showing them the fun side of life too. It taught me very young the importance of responsibility in your job and I feel it has transferred over to  everything I have done since. 

Even though I have been very successful at everything I have set my mind to, whether it has been career based or hobby, I have always felt like I wasn’t serving my true purpose. What did God put me on this planet to do? After a lot of praying and searching, I decided that getting back into sports was my calling. But how was I going to do this? What can I do in sports? Where do my skills come into place? I landed on my photography. I have always enjoyed taking pictures since a I was a kid, I also had an opportunity to attend a Seahawks training camp, as a fan, where I felt I took some really great pictures. But again where do I start? How do I make contacts? 

Never Too Old to Chase A Dream

I tried to go straight into applying with big leagues right from the start and quickly realized I wasn’t even getting a response. I wasn’t discouraged, but knew I needed to find a different route to achieve my goals. In late 2022 I found that there was an arena football team in my hometown, The Oregon High Desert Storm. I found a contact for the owner Chris Reynolds, and applied to be the team photographer. After a phone conversation with him I was hired for the 2023 season! 

Shortly after being hired, I met with GM/Head Coach, Chuck Jones, someone I now consider to be one of my best friends. After our first meeting Chuck asked if I would be interested in taking on more than just the Photography, if I’d also be willing to try and sell sponsorship for the team. I was glad to take up more responsibility as I felt this was me paying my dues and my “going to college” since I didn’t attend University.

Not only did I learn a lot I also met some really great people working with the Storm. Friendships that I feel will last beyond the craziness of sports and entertainment. Too many to list honestly and I really don’t want to leave anyone out. I did whatever the team needed as there were only a handful of us that worked in the front office/coaching roles on the team, so everyone had to step up and take on more responsibility than just “their” position. For the majority of us being in new roles, the 2023 season was a tremendous success, with Chuck and the coaching staff taking the team to the championship game, falling just short to The Idaho Horseman. I also was awarded the 2023 AWFC Community Person Of The Year, for my efforts, something I will always be proud of. 

Arena Football League Return, Launch of the Oregon Blackbears

In late October/early November, Chuck called and said he was hired by the new AFL to be the GM and Head Coach of The Oregon Blackbears and asked if I wanted to help him build a brand new team in a brand new area, Salem Oregon! With my new title Head Of Player Personnel, we got to work immediately constructing what we felt would be the best team in any league of Arena/Indoor football. I learned so much more than I ever imagined I could in the front office and quickly realized my goal in sports was no longer photography, videography, digital design, I want to work in the front office of a major sports league and build a championship team.

I think my favorite aspect of all of it is the networking. Whether it be with players, coaches, other executives, business owners, people I have met in the media, everyone I have met has been so great. Again, with the Blackbears, I met some really incredible people that I will always keep in touch with. 

Everybody knows by now what happened with the league and teams that didn’t make the entire season, I’m not going to beat a dead horse and further the negativity reflected at this league. There are a lot of people that have put their heart and soul into the AFL and I still take personally anything negative said, especially when most of it is false and spread by people that don’t have even a window into what the actual truth is. I think that the new management, Jeff Fischer and G6 Sports, along with Steven Titus (Billings Outlaws Owner) along with so many others, have done a tremendous job turning things around and deserve to be credited for that. The past is what it is and I feel they have, to the best of their abilities, corrected it. 

Even though this season didn’t turn out the way I envisioned, I’m so proud of what we accomplished as a team, on and off the field. Especially what we were able to do for the community of Salem in the short time we did.

The Journey has Just Begun

I hope to once again work with anyone I met along this journey that God has placed me on and so grateful for all the skills I learned, from promotion, marketing, social media building, team building, contracts, and just getting to really learn everything that goes into sports behind the scenes. Even though it’s been rocky at times, I am not discouraged about what is coming.

I am forever grateful to Chuck Jones for giving me my start in this career path and helping me to realize what I actually wanted to do with that opportunity. 

I know that I will be back, it’s just a matter of time….To be continued. 

Written by Jesse Warren

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