NFL’s first female official has an awesome Alabama connection

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April 10, 2015

MOBILE, Ala. — Sarah Thomas, the first female official to grace the sidelines of NFL games this season is a 1995 graduate of the University of Mobile.

Thomas, who will be a line judge for NFL games this upcoming season, played basketball at UMobile from 1992-95, where she was a team leader and a two time Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC) All-Academic selection.

Over her college career Thomas totaled 779 points, 411 rebounds, 108 assists, and 192 steals—still the fifth highest in school history.

“We are honored that one of our former athletes is achieving the highest level in her profession,” UMobile athletics director Joe Niland said.

Her appointment as an NFL official isn’t the first time Sarah Thomas has made history.

In 2007 she became the first female to officiate a college football game, and in 2009 she became the first woman to officiate a college football bowl game.

The Mississippi native reportedly said it was her Southern roots that gave her the love of the game that lead her to pursue this job, but it was an “extreme focus” that actually gave her the drive to earn this opportunity.

“Be very driven and dedicated to your job, and training, just an immense amount of training,” Thomas said in an interview on Good Morning America Thursday.

Thomas has spent the last two years officiating NFL preseason games in preparation of this promotion, and she has some very wise words for others looking to shatter expectations:

“I just say this, don’t go out to try to prove somebody wrong. Go and do things, whether you’re female or male, black or white, just do it because you believe in yourself and you know you’re there to do the job.”

(H/T Baptist Press)