Sarah Thomas, here working a college football bowl game, is in line to become the first female NFL official. (AP)
A woman who could become the NFL’s first female official is training at New Orleans Saints training camp this week.
Sarah Thomas, who lives near Jackson, Miss., is a former college basketball player who started officiating high school games at age 23 and says she never dreamed then that she could become a candidate to officiate NFL games.
Now 40 years old and with three children, she has been officiating college football in Conference USA since 2007, is a member of the NFL’s Officiating Development Program and a finalist to become a permanent NFL official, which would likely happen in 2014. She arrived at Saints camp Thursday and will train there Friday and during Saturday’s scrimmage.
“I don’t feel a weight on my shoulders. It’s exciting,” Thomas said, according to FOX Sports Southwest. “I didn’t set out to be the first or a pioneer, but I will embrace it, if that does happen.”
She has trained at Saints camp in previous years, and Saints coach Sean Payton says she does “a great job.” Saints star quarterback Drew Brees says women are “as qualified as anybody who’s out there” and he supports the idea of a female ref.
“I really don’t feel like I get harsher treatment of any sort,” Thomas said. “The coaches and the players, it’s their job. The players want to win, it’s competitive, the heat of the moment, spirit of the game. If I make a call or I miss a call, they express it and the coaches express it and we’re on to the next play.”
Thomas played basketball at the University of Mobile and became the first woman to referee a Division I-A high school football game in Mississippi in 1996. She’s made more waves since, officiating a pair of Senior Bowls (college football’s senior all-star game) and working in the United States Football League.
“The guys that I officiate with, it’s a profession,” Thomas said. “They understand that we’re all there for the same goal, to get through the game, go unnoticed, be uneventful and so I don’t ever feel like I’m isolated or anything. I’ve been welcomed and part of the group.”
Her day job is as a pharmaceutical representativev. She and her husband Brian have two boys – ages 12 and 9 – and a 7-month-old girl.
Off the field, Thomas works as a pharmaceutical representative. She and her husband Brian have two boys, ages 12 and 9, as well as a 7-month-old baby girl.
Thomas has participated in Saints training camps in the past and Payton has rave reviews.
“The whole time she’s been a part of a crew that’s worked our training camp every year, and she’s done a great job,” Payton said. “You really don’t notice or pay attention to it, and if you do, it’s just because it may be the first time you see a female official.”
With AP