Sarah Thomas and brothers
Thomas says. “I literally called it a hobby. I loved doing it. But then my competitive juices started flowing, and I thought this was a way I could give back to the community, to stay involved in organized sports, and it was a challenge to me because I didn’t play the game of football. And I fell in love with it.” In 2006, Thomas joined the Conference USA officiating staff, and, in 2010, became the first woman to officiate a major college football game. In 2009, she became the first woman to officiate a college bowl game. Although these firsts were notable, they were not on Thomas’ to-do list. “Whenever you’re in football, wherever you are officiating, you want to stay focused on that,” she says. “You don’t want to get too far ahead of yourself. I learned that when I got hired into Conference USA. Somebody asked me one time in an interview, and, it’s a stupid remark, I said I wanted to be the first female in the NFL. An idiotic statement. Because then I worked my first game in Conference USA where you have a video of yourself afterward. And I went, ‘You know what? I need to focus on being the best I can be whenever I’m working for Conference USA.’” That focus led to more firsts for Thomas. In 2011, she became the first woman to officiate in a Big Ten stadium. In 2015, she was named the first permanent female official in the NFL. In 2019, she was the first female official to work an NFL playoff game. And on Feb. 7, 2021, Thomas became the first female official to work the Super Bowl. While some may see her accomplishment as prophetic based on her earlier comment, Thomas knows it was the result of hard work. 20 DeSoto
“I have a job to do,” she says. “I never ever set out to be the first. I say this wholeheartedly, that I just pray for the day that my daughter doesn’t have to grow up and say, ‘Can girls do that?’ They’ll have already seen it done. When those firsts first happened, some of them I didn’t even know were a first. I just knew I had a job to do. When they called me about the Super Bowl, all my friends and family were just stoked. And they were like, ‘Sarah, you’re so somber.’ And I was like, ‘I have a job to do. Once it’s over, then I’ll be able to celebrate.’” And celebrate Thomas did. She did all she could to take it all in, to soak in the experience, to enjoy the moment. “Every official hopes they get a call to go work a Super Bowl, that you rank No. 1 at your spot, that you did the job you were supposed to do and you did it well,” she says. “I was stoked, pumped, and I was glad my kids were there. I got them down on the field, and we took a picture at the end of the game. That was monumental. It was the Super Bowl.”
A graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi, Karon Warren is a huge football fan who loves to cheer on her Southern Miss Golden Eagles, Atlanta Falcons, and New Orleans Saints.
