Want to meet Sarah Thomas, the first female full-time referee in all of NFL history? Hit that button to watch the video.
And prepare to be impressed by the Pascagoula, Mississippi native who might just be the coolest mom ever.
Sarah Thomas has spent 10 years working her way up as a high school and college referee . In the video, you’ll see her training with the NFL’s Officiating Development Program which coincides with the New Orleans Saints training camp.
The video gives coach Sean Payton and quarterback Drew Brees , among others, a chance to comment on the rising referee. They all seemed to like her, with Brees noting that it wasn’t easy to become an NFL official.
There are 21 NFL officials in line for the referee jobs, so she may not take the field this season. But it will still be an interesting test even if she has to wait another year.
Whether it’s this season or the next, Sarah Thomas is first in line to become the first woman full-time referee for the NFL.
On August 16, she’ll serve as a line judge for the Tampa Bay at New England preseason game.
You can read a lot more about Sarah Thomas’ life in the Biloxi Sun-Herald.
In brief, she’s a hard-working married mother of three, with one daughter who is just seven months old. The family lives just outside of Jackson, Mississippi.
Veteran official Walt Coleman repeated what seemed to be a popular theme: “She’s just like all the rest of the guys.”
Other referees said that she never loses her cool, even with everybody yelling and screaming in the heat of the moment around her.
Bleacher Report noted that there isn’t much doubt that Thomas can do the job . At the high school level, she started out with thousands of other referees. She steadily kept developing her skills and sharpening her knowledge of the game.
Now she’s one of 21 awaiting the precious NFL jobs.
Here are a few tweets from the New Orleans Saints practice with up-and-coming referee Sarah Thomas:
Sarah Thomas working #Saints practice today pic.twitter.com/c1jmjSXv4w
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) August 1, 2013
Sean Payton said official Sarah Thomas has “done a great job” working the #Saints practices over the years
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) August 1, 2013
[football thumbnail photo by Torsten Bolten via Wikimedia ]
