NFL’s first full-time female official expects to hear boos
Sarah Thomas expects NFL fans to boo her, just like they do the other 121 game officials. It would mean a measure of acceptance for the league’s first full-time female official.
Thus, Thomas took no offense at Amy Trask’s recent comments.
Trask, the former Oakland Raiders executive, wrote a column for TheMMQB.com in which she said she hopes Thomas is booed: “When Sarah Thomas throws a flag she shouldn’t have thrown — which she will, as all officials do — she should be booed. When Sarah Thomas fails to throw a flag she should have — which she will, as all officials do — she should be booed. Sarah Thomas should be booed as loudly and as resoundingly as her male colleagues are booed. Gender equality means gender equality. And if gender equality is the expectation, all consequences that flow therefrom must be accepted, whether one likes them or not.”
A fellow official sent Thomas the column, and she agreed with Trask’s premise.
“I read it, and I thought what she said is exactly right,” Thomas said Friday during the NFL’s annual Officiating Clinic. “Being booed or however you want to say it, what she’s meaning is: I’m out there to do the job just like any other official. It just so happens I’m there as a woman. But if I’m going to mess up, the guys get booed, so I should get booed.”
Thomas, 41, became one of 10 first-year officials on April 2 when the NFL hired her as a line judge. Shannon Eastin became the first woman to work an NFL regular-season game in 2012 when she served as a replacement official during the NFL’s lockout of its officials.
It’s just another step for Thomas, who became the first woman to officiate a major college football game and the first to officiate a bowl game. She spent the past two seasons in the NFL’s developmental program.
“We don’t want to bring an official in before she’s ready, and she’s been a part of our process and our program for a long time,” said Dean Blandino, the NFL’s vice president of officiating. “She’s been officiating for 20 years, and she’s been on our radar since 2006. We look at her development. She’s been a part of our advanced program the last two years, and she made the necessary progress to come into the league this year.
“...Sarah’s going to be judged on how she performs on the field, and I’m excited for her future.”
For her part, Thomas just wants to “blend in.” She still wears makeup, refusing to concede on that. But the jewelry stays at home, and she pulls her long blonde hair underneath her hat when she’s on the field.
Thomas said she has thick skin and can be hard of hearing when necessary. She insists she has encountered no additional challenges as a female, but she does have the spotlight for now.
“I think it’s great for her and it’s great for the league, all that attention,” said Aaron Santi, a first-year official who has worked three games with Thomas as well as a minicamp in New Orleans last month. “I certainly wouldn’t want that attention. It’s going to be tougher for her. She’s going to be under the microscope a little more, because the reality is this is a really difficult job, and we all make mistakes. Hopefully, the fans and the public and the media will allow her to make mistakes and not treat her with a different standard than anyone else.”
In 1997, Violet Palmer and Dee Kantner became the first female NBA officials. Palmer and Lauren Holtkamp held two of the 62 referee spots in the NBA last season. Palmer has done it so long that she no longer stands out.
Thomas, married with three children and a full-time job as a pharmaceutical sales rep, hopes she soon goes unnoticed.
“I am going to be the rookie on a crew,” Thomas said. “I definitely want to earn the respect of my fellow crewmates No. 1. Of course, I’m hired to do a job, so I want to do it accurately and be great at it. And then hopefully I grade out [well]. It all kind of goes together. Do the job, and do it good.”
This story was originally published July 17, 2015 at 8:27 PM with the headline "NFL’s first full-time female official expects to hear boos."