Pascagoula's Sarah Thomas enjoys work as college football official

By LINDSAY MOTT

Correspondent
Mississippi Press

Courtesy of the Mississippi Press 2009
© All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. 

When Sarah Thomas became the first athlete at Pascagoula High School to letter five times in a sport, she never dreamed that she would go on to accomplish other major firsts, not just for herself or locally but nationally.

In 2007, she became the first woman to officiate a Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly NCAA Division I-A, game.

In 1991, Thomas lettered for the fifth year in softball, becoming the first athlete at the school to achieve that feat. She went on to play basketball on full scholarship at the University of Mobile. The team went to the NAIA national tournament and set a number of school records. She was also an All-American scholar-athlete.

As a person who had always been involved in sports, she found herself without a sport to play about 12 years ago and decided to join her brother at a meeting of the Gulf Coast Football Officials Association, which works high school games.

She trained with the rest of the officials, passed the tests and began officiating high school games in Mississippi, becoming the first woman to officiate as a part of this association. During her time in the association, she officiated two championship games and an Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Classic, events requiring top officials.

"I grew up being the only girl," Thomas said. "I always just played with the boys."

She officiated high school games for the next 10 years and was getting ready to retire when a scout recommended her as a college official. She was hired and officiated her first game Sept. 15, 2007, with the University of Memphis taking on Jacksonville State.

Even though it was a new step, Thomas said she really wasn't nervous.

"It was just my job to do, what I had been trained to do the last 10 years," she said, crediting her high school officiating experience with easing her nerves.

She has continued to officiate college games and has been hired again for the 2009 season in the College Football Organization (CFO) West region.

"I love it," Thomas said. "I could not imagine not being on a football field in the fall."

She said the adrenaline of hearing the national anthem before a big game is something that can't be forgotten. She has also become friends with many of the spouses of the fellow officials and feels honored to work beside the men she's around.

And, so far in her officiating career, she's had no problems with negative criticism or disrespect.

"The coaches and the players just want it done right," she said. "As long as I manage the game, I won't hear that."

She has the support of her husband, sons Bridley and Brady, and her parents, Spencer and Donna Bailey. She said they're glued to the TV every Saturday watching her and enjoy going on the field when they travel with her.

But, just being an official is not all fun and games. At the college level, they are "critiqued, coached and constructively criticized," Thomas said. The officials are regularly evaluated and must do their part to stay current with new rules.

Thomas said the mentality that helps, and that all the officials try to stick to, is that every game is the big game.

"We try to go out and think it's a championship," she said.

The officials realize that every game is important to every player, coach and fan, and try to remember that for every down.

Years ago, Thomas did not set out to change the rules for women in football officiating, but she did.

According to a report the day after she was hired, Conference USA received four officiating applications from females and the league had never received those previously. She just wanted to be involved with sports and ended up opening the door for others to follow in her footsteps.