From the Bench: Passing of a Man with Quiet and Big Impact on Youth Sports for Thousands in Bridgeport
By Jeff Toquinto on September 27, 2026 from Sports Blog
For those on the boys side of the ledger, Nov. 8, 2025, is a special date in Bridgeport High School soccer history. Or, if you want to go back to November in 2012 for not only the Indians’ first-ever girls title, but the first soccer title in Harrison County history is also a date to remember.
Here is another date for anyone in Bridgeport that has a child playing in soccer – whether it is youth soccer all the way up to the high school varsity level. In fact, if you have had a child playing soccer for the past 40-plus years on an organized level there is another date you should take note of.
The date? It would be April 19, 1983. At that time, two Bridgeport gentlemen headed to Charleston and the West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office.
They were not there to complain. They were not there to open a business. Instead, the goal was simple.
The goal of Jerry Pomeroy and Ron Bucy was not financial concern or profit. It was to create the Bridgeport Soccer Association. From that point forward, soccer became organized, it had a home for youth who had – or were – falling in love with the sport. It was those two who men planted the seeds for a sport that is still growing today.
I am mentioning this in my blog today due to the fact, as many of you know, one of those gentlemen passed away this week. Jerry 
Pomeroy, or Thomas Jerrett Pomeroy, passed away at the age of 84 after battling illness for some time. His family was with him in his last moments on this earth.
Pomeroy, or Thomas Jerrett Pomeroy, passed away at the age of 84 after battling illness for some time. His family was with him in his last moments on this earth.
Think about that. The very foundation of a high school program fed by equally successful middle school and youth programs that flourish to the highest level in a city where expectations are to succeed was set in place quietly, quickly, 40-plus years ago.
Few people know about the efforts of Jerry Pomeroy and Ron Bucy. More should.
I was fortunate to find out from my friends, Drew Pomeroy, and his wife Becky about it during talks on soccer. If the last name sounds familiar, that would be Jerry’s son and his daughter-in-law.
Drew, it is safe to say, was the reasoning for what his father did. His son, at an early age, wanted to play soccer and there were no formal leagues set up – or at least those officially recognized by the state and done in the correct manner that Bridgeport sports make a habit of following.
“He’s listed as one of the original individuals that set it up; he incorporated it,” Drew said. “He was also on the original board.”
Jerry Pomeroy was also an original youth soccer coach. His son said his father did not know a lot about the game but went about learning. After all, if you have a youth league you need coaches. And if you participate in forming a league, chances are good people expect you to coach.
He did that. And he did that for quite a while.
“I think he was happy about it strictly because kids wanted to play soccer here, and they had a chance now,” said Drew.
The ironic thing, according to Drew, is that even though he knew his father was there and actively involved, it would be decades later when he figured out just how involved. For the longest time, his father was, in his mind, a coach and a person making sure that things were in order with the leagues growing in the city.
“I knew he had a hand in things early on, but not until many years later did I realize he officially started it. I was filing a tax return and was looking something up on the Secretary of State’s Web site, where it lists associations and businesses, anything incorporated, by my last name,” said Drew. “There it was. That was cool to see because at that point soccer was thriving.”
His involvement gets much cooler as this story of a life of impact unfolds. But before getting there, a few other elements need to be touched on in the life of Jerry Pomeroy. Cornering his life to just contributing to sports, which also included his serving time as the president of the Bridgeport High School All Sports Boosters, would not be a complete picture.
He was a husband to Linda Pomeroy, a long-time and highly respected educator, and they have been married for 54 years. The marriage 
produced two children highly respected in the community in Drew, and their daughter Suzanne Pomeroy Randolph. Both children are successful by any parental standard and have beautiful families of their own.
produced two children highly respected in the community in Drew, and their daughter Suzanne Pomeroy Randolph. Both children are successful by any parental standard and have beautiful families of their own.
Along with being a husband and a dad, Jerry Pomeroy was also a business owner. For years, he owned Barewood Refinishing on Main Street in Bridgeport.
I am betting, however, along with being a husband, father, brother, uncle, businessman, and more, his favorite title was being a grandfather. He had six grandchildren, three on his son’s side and three on his daughter’s side.
It would be two of the grandchildren that were involved in what turned Jerry Pomeroy’s actions back in 1983 – decades before any of his grandchildren were born – into a true full circle moment.
Two of those grandchildren, recently graduated Tucker Pomeroy and current BHS senior Paxton Pomeroy, tied together 1983 and 2025 in a beautiful moment.
It was last year that the Bridgeport High School boys soccer team did something that it has never done before. On that Nov. 8 date listed above, I purposely left out one small detail many know about. It was on that date that the boys soccer team upset top-seed Nitro in the Class AAA state title game in Beckley and brought home the first title in school history for the boys.
Think about that, too. The man who had a big a role, and a noticeably quiet one, in establishing soccer in the City of Bridgeport, was able to be there when two of his grandchildren were able to visit him with the state championship trophy.
That is beyond good karma. That is the full circle moment that is even more glorious because of the thousands of children competing in soccer here in Bridgeport because, in part, of Jerry Pomeroy’s actions. It is the universe thanking you for a job well done.
In Jerry Pomeroy’s life, there were a lot of things that were well done. And now, his work here on earth is done.
Rest easy Jerry. You have earned it.
Editor's Note: Top photo shows Jerry Pomeroy, top row and far right, coaching one of Bridgeport's first teams in 1983. He is shown in the second photo with his Randolph granddaughters Collins on the left, Monroe front right, and Harper behind Monroe. In the third photo, he is shown with his Pomeroy grandsons, from left, Mason, Tucker, and Paxton. In the fourth photo, Paxton and Tucker are shown after last year's state title winning holding championship hardware. All photos courtesy of the Pomeroy family.
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