Sarah Thomas To Make History As First Woman To Officiate A Super Bowl

Sarah Thomas received the call on April 2, 2015, at 10:47 a.m.

The New York City area code 212 appeared on her screen and Thomas said that she prayed it was then NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino on the other end of the line.

Her prayers were answered as Blandino informed Thomas that she was to become the first full-time female official in NFL history.

Thomas, 47, has been considered a trailblazer since joining the NFL in 2015. This week, she broke another barrier when the league announced that she would become the first woman to officiate a Super Bowl. Thomas will serve as a down judge, a position she has held for the past four seasons, on referee Carl Cheffers’ crew at Super Bowl LV in Tampa, Florida.

A minimum of five years of experience is required in order to officiate a Super Bowl and the crew is also assembled based off of in-season performance.

In a statement, NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent said: “Sarah Thomas has made history again as the first female Super Bowl official. Her elite performance and commitment to excellence has earned her the right to officiate the Super Bowl. Congratulations to Sarah on this well-deserved honor.”

Thomas’ journey to the NFL began when her own athletic career was coming to a close.

Thomas graduated from the University of Mobile in 1995. While there, she played basketball and recorded 779 points, 411 rebounds, 108 assists and 192 steals in three seasons. Not wanting to lose the camaraderie of team sports, Thomas looked into becoming a football official.

Like anyone starting a new career, Thomas started small by officiating grade school games before moving on to high schools. In 2007, after Thomas officiated a high school state championship game in Mississippi and an all-star game that same year, she received a call from the supervisor of Conference USA’s officials at the time, Gerry Austin, per ESPN. Austin had heard of Thomas from retired official, Joe Haynes.

“What’s his name?” Austin asked.

“His name is Sarah,” Haynes said.

Austin hired Thomas, making her the first woman to officiate a major college football game and, eventually, a bowl game.

Thomas continued to move forward, becoming the NFL’s first full-time female official on April 8, 2015. Shannon Eastin was the first woman to serve as an official when she stepped in as a replacement during the 2012 referee lockout. Thomas is the first woman to hold the position in a full-time capacity.

She began her career as a line judge before becoming a down judge in 2017. The term “down judge” is significant because of its gender neutrality, marking a change from the previous label of “head linesman.”

Thomas made history again when she became the first woman to officiate a postseason contest, working on the crew for the New England Patriots-Los Angeles Chargers divisional playoff game on January 13, 2019.

“I think I’m able to absorb the fact that we as a crew officiated this game and, for the most part, we went unnoticed,” Thomas said in an interview with NFL Network following the game. “It was uneventful. The guys handled themselves on the field and we worked our game. History was made because I was able to be a part of that crew but absorbing that is just the fact that we did a professional job.”

While some continue to identify Thomas as a “female official,” she said that her peers view her as simply another official. Thomas has now worked a total of four postseason games in six seasons with the league.

Earlier in the 2020 season, Thomas was a part of a groundbreaking game between the Washington Football Team and Cleveland Browns. For the first time in NFL history, three women were on the field in an official capacity during a regular-season game. Thomas was joined by Browns’ chief of staff Callie Brownson and Washington’s full-year coaching intern, Jennifer King.

In retrospect, that game set the tone for what was to come. Back in that 2019 interview with NFL Network, Thomas was asked how she would feel about getting the chance to officiate the league’s biggest game.

“If I ever have the opportunity to work a Super Bowl,” Thomas began. “Just like the crew that was selected to work this year’s Super Bowl, they are number one at their position.

“If you grade out at the top of your game, and that’s what I want to do every game…If that puts me at number one to work a Super Bowl, I want to earn it and I want to be there.”

Just like Thomas will never forget when she got that initial call to the NFL almost six years ago, women everywhere will remember the glass ceiling that will shatter on Feb.7 when she takes the field at Raymond James Stadium.

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