Earning Her Stripes in College Football

Sarah Thomas and her fellow officials say that her sex has never been an issue.
NEW ORLEANS — Mike Henry could not get comfortable in his stance. He knew the line judge was watching him. This was only a scrimmage, but Henry, a 6-foot-5, 289-pound freshman lineman, was trying to move up the depth chart for the Tulane Green Wave. The whistle blew and a blur of black and white stripes came running his way.
“You need to get down, and stay down,” the official said in a voice that swiveled Henry’s head and widened his eyes. It was not the tone but the timbre of Sarah Thomas’s voice.

It was soft and lilting and grounded in the rhythms of her native Mississippi. Because Thomas’s long blond hair was tucked beneath a black hat swirled in stripes, Henry had had no idea the official was a woman.

Thomas, 35, is major college football’s only female referee. She has grown accustomed to startling players and coaches on Saturdays but said it did not occur as often as one might think.

“Most of the time they are so focused on what they are doing, they don’t notice me,” Thomas said. “And that is what every other official strives for. Our best games are the ones that no one knows we’re there.”

Neither Thomas nor those who work with and supervise her say it is odd that she has found her avocation amid big games and marching bands. She always loved sports and was the first athlete at Pascagoula High School to earn a letter five times in a sport, softball. She received a basketball scholarship to the University of Mobile, helpedthe team make the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics tournament and earned academic all-American honors.