When the NFL kicks off its season, there will be one more woman on the sidelines. She won’t be in a cheerleader’s uniform, but rather in the black-and-white striped uniform of an NFL referee. On April 2, Sarah Thomas was officially named the NFL’s first full-time female official, and she will commence working as a line judge in the upcoming season. Thomas, a Pascagoula, Mississippi native, lettered in high-school softball and played college basketball, but she is making a career, and headlines, out of football.
Thomas got her start in the 1990s officiating grade-school and high-school games in Mississippi. In 2007, she graduated from high-school games to Conference USA, and immediately after this promotion Thomas redoubled her dedication to the job. She began attending weekly officiating sessions, comparable to referee school, in order to brush up on the technical aspects of the job. Thomas aptly juggled the theoretical and the practical. While brushing up on the mechanics of refereeing, she continued to work her way up through the ranks. In 2009, she officiated her first major college bowl game (Marshall vs. Ohio), in 2011 she served as line judge in her first Big Ten game (Northwestern vs. Rice), and through participating in the NFL’s development program, she was able to officiate some of the league’s pre-season games.
As impressive as her résumé sounds, Thomas has succeeded well beyond her career. In conjunction with the demands of ascending meteorically through the ranks of elite football, Thomas has also managed to juggle a family and a career as a pharmaceutical sales representative.
Thomas’ selection comes at a time when women are shattering barriers in the traditionally male-dominated sports of basketball and football. Becky Hammon is now an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs. Jen Welter was just hired as an inside linebackers coach for the Arizona Cardinals.
Still, it is important to note that Sarah Thomas is joining an organization that is composed entirely of men, from entry-level employees to players to executives. Women can only be found cheering, either from the stands or the sidelines. The NFL’s track record with women worsened in the aftermath of the Ray Rice scandal and Rice’s lax punishment from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. In case you missed it, Ray Rice was caught on an elevator security camera knocking his wife Janay Palmer unconscious and dragging her out of the elevator. The NFL initially doled out a two-game suspension. More evidence of Ray’s violence against his wife and the general public’s negative reaction to the weak discipline, however, led to Rice being suspended indefinitely. This punishment was later overturned on appeal.
Football’s skittishness with women quickly reared its ugly head with Sarah Thomas. Early in her career, Thomas received advice that she should tuck her hair in her cap and refrain from wearing makeup in order to avoid standing out—in other words, to diminish the possibility that being a woman would detract from her ability to officiate.
The NFL kicks off on September 10, 2015 with a face-off between the New England Patriots and the Pittsburgh Steelers. It is unknown whether Sarah Thomas will be part of that officiating crew, but it’s a fair call to say that all football fans—especially younger girls—will be looking for her.
