Earlier this year, Sarah Thomas made history by becoming the first woman to referee an NFL Super Bowl game (Super Bowl 55). However, being a trailblazer is not new to her. Hard-working and dedicated, she has spent her entire career breaking barriers in a male-dominated industry.
Born in Mississippi in 1973, a true tomboy, she was introduced to sports at a young age from hanging out with her brothers. She attended the University of Mobile, Alabama on a basketball scholarship and earned a degree in communications in 1995.
After graduation, Thomas started thinking about getting involved in the sports world. In 1996, she began officiating youth and high school football games in her home state. She then worked her way up to the college level and was hired by Conference USA in 2007, thus becoming the first woman to officiate in Conference USA as well as the first to officiate a college bowl game.
When she joined the NFL in 2015, she hit a major milestone and became the league’s first full-time female official. Although she never planned to be a football official, she fell in love with the job.
Four years later, she broke the glass ceiling again by becoming the first female on-field official in playoff history during the Divisional Round game between the Los Angeles Chargers and the New England Patriots.
When earlier this year she became the first woman to officiate a Super Bowl, she said, "I never set out to be the first in any of this, but knowing the impact that I'm having on not just my daughter but young girls everywhere, women everywhere, when I get on that field, and I take it all in, I know that I'm probably gonna get a little teary eyed.”
As such, by succeeding in this male-dominated world, she is definitely paving the way for more female officials and inspiring others to dream big.
“I do know there are still industries that are not on an equal playing field with women. My thing is, don't let that keep you from continuing to do what you know that you have to do. Don't look at it as an excuse, look at it as an opportunity,” she once stated.