NFL announces Sarah Thomas will be league's first female official
The NFL announced Wednesday that Sarah Thomas would become the first full-time female official in league history.
By
Ryan Wilson
•
1 min read
The NFL announced Wednesday that Sarah Thomas would become the first full-time female official in league history. A report from the Baltimore Sun surfaced last week that Thomas was in line for a promotion.
"Our incoming officials have all demonstrated that they are among the best in college football," NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino said in a statement. "We are excited about having them join us."
A 19-year veteran, Thomas spent the previous eight years working with Conference USA. She became the first female to officiate an NCAA football game in 2007, and has previously been a finalist for the NFL job. In fact, Thomas has been on the league's radar for seven years.
In 2013, Blandino said that "She was in our pipeline for a while," but noted that making the leap to NFL official takes time for any prospective official.
"It's similar from when a player jumps from college to the NFL," he said at the time. "Getting used to that type of speed is important."
That same year, Thomas told ABC News that her gender hasn't been an issue in a male-dominated field.
"I don't feel that it's been harder for me because I'm a female," she said at the time. "I think that we are just out here working as officials. ... I think just on our credentials, just as officials, I think that's what moves us along, not because of our gender or our race."
Thomas has previously worked NFL preseason games and training camps. And while she's set to be the NFL's first full-time official, technically Shannon Eastin earned the distinction of the first female to officiate an NFL regular-season game when she worked as a replacement ref early in the 2012 season.
In addition to Thomas, the other officials landing full-time posts include Kevin Codey, Hugo Cruz, Bart Longson, Clay Martin, Aaron Santi, Shawn Smith, Jabir Walker and Walt Coleman IV, son of NFL officiating dean Walt Coleman.
