History was made on Sunday when Sarah Thomas stepped onto the Super Bowl field as the first ever woman to referee the Super Bowl.
Thomas hasn’t just started making history either, in 2007 she became the first woman to officiate a major college football game as well as become the first woman to officiate a bowl game at the end of the 2009 season in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl between Marshall and Ohio. The Marshall running back and game MVP Martin Ward said “I noticed her before the game, but that was it. Once the game started, she was just doing the job that the line judge does in every game we play. It didn’t matter that she was a woman at all.”
Before Thomas started her career as a referee she worked as a pharmaceutical representative but found a love for the sport after she attended a meeting of the Gulf Coast Football Officials Association. In an interview with CBS This Morning, Thomas said, “But as you pursue this career, and you fall in love with what you’re doing, and to be a part of such a strong fraternity, and they [NFL officiators] let a little sister in, and I know there’s going to be some more women following me.”
And follow they have. Other women like Shannon Eastin and Becky Hammon, have found success as referees and coaches across several male dominated sports leagues like the NFL and the NBA. For a full list of other women referees and coaches that are making history, check out this article from the Sportster.
