Sarah Thomas Biography
Sarah Thomas (Sarah Thomas – Bailey) is an American football official born in 1973 in Pascagoula, Mississippi. She is the first full-time female official in NFL history. She was the first woman to officiate a major college football game, the first to officiate a bowl game, and the first to officiate in a Big Ten stadium.
Sarah Thomas Age
Sarah was born in 1973 in Pascagoula, Mississippi (46 years as of 2018)
Sarah Thomas Husband
Sarah married Brian Thomas in 2010 and they live in Brandon, Mississippi.
Sarah Thomas Children
Sarah and her husband Brian have three children together: Brady Thomas, Bailey Thomas and Bradley Thomas
Sarah Thomas Photo
Sarah Thomas Basketball
Sarah began playing basketball at a young age and while in grade 5 she played basketball with the boys as there was no girls team. While attending Pascagoula High School she was the first athlete at the school to letter five times in a sport. She was also a referee for high school football games in 1996 in Pascagoula.
She later joined the University of Mobile – a Baptist affliated University- on a basketball scholarship where she helped lead the 1993 team to the NAIA national tournament.
Sarah Thomas Salary
The average salary of an NFL referee is $189,000 in 2018 and the contract is said to expire in 2019 with the average salary of an NFL referee in 2019 increased to $205,000 per year.
A professional referee, generally officiates the World Cup series and annual championship games like the Super Bowl finals and earns an average salary in the range of $173,000 per year as of 2013.
Sarah, as the first woman to officiate the NFL matches in 2013 earned a salary of $700 per match.
Sarah Thomas Hot and Family
Sarah Thomas American Football Official | Sarah Thomas NFL Football Official
In 1996 Sarah began her officiating career when she attended a meeting of the Gulf Coast Football Officials Association working her first varsity high school game in 1999.
In 2006 she was invited to an officials’ camp by Gerry Austin, Conference USA’s coordinator of officials and a former NFL official, who was impressed by her skills and hired her for Conference USA staff.
She became the first woman to officiate a major college football game in 2007 working a game between Memphis and Jacksonville State.
Sarah was one of the five female officials in major college football during the 2009 season and the only one at the Football Bowl Subdivision level. She was assigned to a crew and given a full schedule of 11 games.
She became the first woman to officiate a bowl game after she was selected to work the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl between Marshall and Ohio. She became the first woman to officiate in a Big Ten stadium on 12th November 2011 working as a line judge when Northwestern hosted Rice.
She has also officiated United Football League games and also worked the league championship game.
Sarah became one of the 21 finalist in contention for a permanent NFL officiating position in 2013. She worked as New Orleans Saints scrimmages, and was part of the NFL officiating development program, spending three days at the Indianapolis Colts mini camp.
Sarah became the first permanent female official in NFL history on 8th April 2015 making her NFL regular season debut on 13th September 2015 in a game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium, as part of Pete Morelli’s crew as the line judge.
In 2017 Sarah moved to the down judge position, a position that was previously known as linesman, but was changed in 2017 to take a gender – neutral form.
On 13th January 2019 Sarah was named as part of the crew for the game between the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Chargers making her the first woman to earn an on-field assignment for a playoff game.