Two Atlanta referees will be part of the first officiating crew comprised mostly of women during Thursday night’s football game featuring Lane College and Miles College in Fairfield, Ala.
Tangela Mitchell and Sabrina Brunson of Atlanta, Yvonda Lewis of Houston and Krystle Apellaniz of Oviedo, Fla., will be part of the officiating crew for the game scheduled to kickoff at 7 p.m. at Albert J. Sloan Stadium at Miles College, according to the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
“We are extremely proud to be in the vanguard with respect to the promotion of gender diversity in this area and look forward to continuing our efforts to foster diversity in intercollegiate athletics,” said SIAC Commissioner Gregory Moore in a release from the league.
Brunson and Lewis have already made history. Brunson became the first female official for the SIAC in 1995 and in 2009 Lewis became the first female official for the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
Mitchell and Apellaniz are in their first year officiating.
The NFL is sending officials to the game to evaluate their performance.
There are 21 officials in the NFL’s advanced development program, a group of the most advanced NCAA officials who may have an opportunity to move to the NFL, said David Coleman, Director of Football Officials for the NFL. There is one woman in that group, he said.
“We firmly believe in the not-so-distant future that there will be a woman official in the NFL,” Coleman said.
Sarah Thomas became the first woman to work a major college game when she was part of the team who officiated the Memphis-Jacksonville State game in 2007, according to the NCAA. Catherine Conti and Mary Podesta were the first female officials to work together as part of the same officiating crew during the Menlo College-Whitworth University game in 2010.
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