LITHONIA: Woman becomes groundbreaker on the gridiron

When Moses Norman got the call five years ago, he wasn’t looking to make history. He was just looking for good football officials.

Norman —- the supervisor of officials for the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference —- ended up, he said, doing both.

Sebrina Brunson, a Lithonia resident who works as a Gwinnett County probation officer, became the first female field official in the conference, and one of just a few in the nation, with her appearance in a Sept. 20 game in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

The NCAA doesn’t keep records on officials’ gender, but she appears to be one of just a handful of females calling fouls in college football.

She called three penalties —- a clip, a neutral zone infraction and an illegal substitution call. And she was jumpy enough that she broke the lanyard on her whistle because she was tugging on it so hard.

“I was nervous but confident because I had worked so hard,” she said.

Brunson did an excellent job, Norman said.

“She was at least as good as, if not better than, 70 percent of the line judges I work with anyway,” he said.

That’s not to say that the road has always been easy.

Brunson began calling youth-league games as a way to stay close to her children. She went on to officiating high school games.

Later, she went through officiating training for the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference but was not chosen to work any games.

After she moved to Lithonia in 2006, she began attending SIAC training camps at Miles College in Birmingham. Norman learned about Brunson during a phone call from a former colleague who’d seen her officiate games in Florida and knew she was moving to metro Atlanta.

She wasn’t chosen after the first camp and was named a reserve in 2007.

In July, she learned she would actually get a chance to officiate a real game.

“I was in the back of the classroom with my head down,” she said.

Brunson said she tried to keep a low profile because of her gender.

“When I got in my car I screamed,” she said.

Brunson said she has always gotten a few cracks from players trying to test her, but she just doesn’t rise to the bait.

Norman said the way she carries herself and the fact that she’s never asked for special treatment overcame any initial skepticism among players, coaches and other officials.

“She’s paid her dues and has demonstrated that she can hold her own with any official on the field,” he said.

Brunson is scheduled to work her next game Oct. 18 between Lane College and Stillman College in Tuscaloosa.

Brunson said she isn’t done. She’d like to move up to Division I football, and maybe even someday the NFL.

It’s mostly about doing something she loves, but she’s OK with being a role model, too.

“If I can make a way for someone years down the line to come in and officiate, I’m happy to be able to open doors,” she said.