Jen Pawol will become the first female umpire in Major League Baseball history this weekend. She is scheduled to work the Atlanta Braves vs. Miami Marlins series.
The 48-year-old New Jersey native has been in the minor leagues since 2016 and has handled spring training games for the past two years.
In prestigious men’s leagues, these female officials were the first to step onto the court, the floor, or the field.
NFL
When Shannon Eastin served as a line judge during a preseason game between the Green Bay Packers and the Chargers, who were then in San Diego, in August 2012, she became the first female official in NFL history.
When she served as the line judge for the Rams vs. Lions game a month later, she became the first female official in an NFL regular-season game. When the league’s regular officials were locked out, Eastin was one of the replacement officials they hired.
Sarah Thomas, a line judge in 2015, became the first woman to be hired for a full-season position. When Thomas was a member of the seven-person crew on February 7, 2021, when Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9, she also became the first woman to work a Super Bowl.
Thomas was already the first woman to work a bowl game and officiate a big college football game.
NBA
For the 1997 season, the National Basketball Association hired Dee Kantner and Violet Palmer. On October 31, 1997, Palmer made her NBA debut while playing in the Vancouver Grizzlies vs. Dallas Mavericks season opener. That evening, Palmer collaborated with Mark Wunderlich and Bill Oakes.
On November 5, 1997, Atlanta defeated Philadelphia 93-88 in Kantner’s debut game. Kantner collaborated with Ed Middleton and Ron Garretson. Kantner continues to officiate women’s NCAA basketball, while Palmer retired in 2016.
NHL
Neither a Stanley Cup playoff game nor a regular season game has ever featured a female on-ice official in the NHL.
Heather McDaniel gained some national recognition in the mid-1990s as a referee for the Central Hockey League and West Coast Hockey League men’s minor league games. Four female officials were chosen by the NHL to serve on the ice during the 2019 prospect tournaments, twenty years later. Referees were Kelly Cooke and Katie Guay, while linesmen were Kendall Hanley and Kirsten Welsh. Women officiated in the pre-training camp prospects tournament level for the first time.
Before the 2023–24 season, a minor shift occurred when “linesmen” were renamed “linespersons,” with women in the AHL advancing through the ranks.
Men’s World Cup
In 2022, French referee St. Phanie Frappart became the first female referee to oversee a men’s World Cup match. The match between Costa Rica and Germany took place in Al Khor, Qatar.
Two female assistants, Karen Diaz Medina of Mexico and Neuza Back of Brazil, worked the game alongside Frappart.
Men’s NCAA tournament
On March 15, 2002, Melanie Davis was on the floor during a first-round game between San Diego State and Illinois, becoming the first female referee in the history of the Division I NCAA men’s tournament.
Davis had officiated men’s games in the Southwestern Athletic Conference prior to the historic match.
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