Sarah Thomas was named the NFL's first full-time female official today, according to a USA Today report, but the 41-year-old Thomas, in talking to reporters after making history, didn't seem all that interested in patting herself on the back.
"I did not set out to become an NFL official, but the further along I went in the progression, in Conference USA, part of me thought it might be a reality," Thomas said, according to Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. "You work every game and hope to be asked back to work the next one. . . . My goal has always been to be the best line judge I can be any time I can get the opportunity . . . just to be the best official I can be, and I feel honored and blessed to be in the National Football League now."
Thomas, who will be a line judge next season, went into officiating after she stopped playing competitive sports and after some time working her way up the ranks heard from Dean Blandino, the head of officiating for the NFL.
"When I was playing sports it never entered my mind, but once I got into the high school associations and then into college, the competitive side of me didn't want to stop there. Fortunately enough, I got a call from Dean," she said.
There were rumors last offseason that Thomas would be promoted to a full-time official, but that did not come to pass. HNGN passed along a report earlier this month that Thomas was finally on the verge of becoming the league's first full-time female official for the 2015 season - Shannon Eastin, a replacement official in 2012, is the first woman to ever officiate an NFL regular season game - and the league made the move official on Wednesday.
Thomas also revealed to reporters that despite the complete male-domination of the NFL, she doesn't expect to be treated any differently than the male officials, stating that "it's just the mindset of an official that you don't want to be seen or noticed."
She did make a quip about how longtime NFL official Gerry Austin suggested she tuck her long hair into her cap so that she didn't stand out from the other officials - something Thomas does - but that he "also asked me not to wear any makeup, but I told him he was crossing the line there."
