Middle’s Frank Cervino Enjoys Giving Back to Students

If you go tableside at Middle Township High School basketball games, you’re likely to find 78-year-old Frank Cervino running the game clock.
The Philadelphia native, who clearly enjoys working with young people, served almost 30 years as a juvenile probation officer in the City of Brotherly Love and has continued his love of helping future generations as a substitute teacher at Middle for the past 15 years.
Cervino and his beloved, late spouse, Jackie, were married 54 years and raised five children by scrimping, saving, and working every hour possible. When Cervino would finish his shift in the courthouse, he would hustle to college and high school officiating assignments in basketball, soccer and softball.
A North Wildwood resident, Cervino patrolled fields and gymnasiums with a dangling whistle or ball/strike indicator for 42 seasons. He worked briefly in security, a canning factory, and as a barber. He had dropped out of Frankford High School to utilize his hair-cutting skills.
“Back then if you had a trade, you didn’t stay in school,” he said. “I was a licensed barber but that didn’t work out because the hippies came along and nobody was getting a hair cut. Plus, the shop owner wouldn’t let me leave a half-hour early so I could get to the games on time to referee.”
He was well regarded and respected for his work with juveniles before a judge discovered he did not possess a high school diploma let alone a college degree.
He earned his GED at 35 and followed with a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from Vermont’s Goddard College four years later.
He worked the 11 to 7 shift making cans so he could officiate sports and earn extra money. He knew availability and flexibility were essential to getting more game assignments.
Cervino, who harbored ambitions of NBA officiating, worked games in Philadelphia’s most competitive basketball environments, including the Baker, Eastern, and Sonny Hill leagues, respectively. He was the ref assignor for the legendary Jack Ramsey’s basketball camp in Margate.
“I might have gone farther with my officiating career, but I didn’t have the right people to push the right buttons for me,” he lamented. “But I did OK after starting as a 29-year-old doing CYO games for $5. You paid your dues in those days. It was 10 years before I picked up a high school varsity game.”
College assignments took him to planes, trains and automobiles as he ventured well into Boston, New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania for games. “I loved the camaraderie of being with my fellow officials,” he said. “I looked at it as an honor to be there. I appreciated the fact that a lot of people wanted to be doing that and I was given the opportunity.”
Cervino said he made good money for the time but he and Jackie put their resources into the Philadelphia Archdiocese, which educated each of their five children. He was 20 and Jackie was 19 when they married. He declined management opportunities in the juvenile department because he wanted to work closely with the adolescents and he wanted to remain available for the officiating opportunities.
“I didn’t run around or drink or smoke,” he said. “I wanted to help the kids. I worked lots of games in the urban communities and I knew many of the players. I had a relationship with them.”
Cervino retired in 1998 and moved permanently to the North Wildwood home the family had purchased three years earlier. One of his sons, a cabinetmaker by trade, renovated the place for them.
“We sold our house in the city and came down here,” he said. “I was refereeing at Wildwood High School one night when they asked me about substitute teaching so that’s how that got started.”
After two years at Wildwood, he started pinch-hitting in Middle Township classrooms and he’s been there since.
“I also started doing the table at Middle Township basketball games,” he said. “I was the scorebook man and then moved over to the clock. I resigned from officiating and devoted myself to that and substitute teaching.”
As for his daily interaction with the students, Cervino says its much more than just getting himself out of the house each day.
“It’s true that I get out of the house but I love to be able to provide some guidance for the kids,” he noted. “Some children are not as fortunate as other kids. I worked in a profession where I was able to judge young people and see if they had problems and if they wanted to improve themselves. I tell them now like I told them then; they need to get an education.”