THE NFL has named Maia Chaka its first ever black female official, the league announced March 5, 2021 on the TODAY show.
The announcement comes weeks after Sarah Thomas became the first woman to work a Super Bowl on the officiating crew.
Who is Maia Chaka?
Chaka has been part of the NFL’s officiating development program since 2014.
She has officiated several years on the college level, including gigs in the Pac-12 Conference and Conference USA. As part of her training, she worked NFL preseason games and counted NFL vice president of officiating evaluation and development Wayne Mackie as her mentor.
Maia first started officiating in 2006 at high school games and eventually moved in to the collegiate ranks with Conference USA.
When she’s not out on the field, Chaka is a health and physical education teacher in the Virginia Beach public school system. She was named teacher of the year a few years ago at the Renaissance Academy.
She graduated from Norfolk State University.
Why did she become an NFL official now?
Every year the NFL updates its roster of officials due to retirements, departures and position changes and replacements are usually picked by the league’s officiating development program.
“I am honored to be selected as an NFL official. But this moment is bigger than a personal accomplishment. It is an accomplishment for all women, my community, and my culture,” Chaka said in a statement released by the league on Friday.
On the TODAY show, Chaka said her mentor Mackie called her on Monday at around 9:15pm and she thought she was being “punked”. He said she had a lot of work ahead of her and “Welcome to the National Football League.”
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Chaka’s “years of hard work, dedication and perseverance…have earned her a position as an NFL official,” Troy Vincent, NFL’s executive vice president of football operations, said in a statement.
“As we celebrate Women’s History Month,” Vincent’s statement read, “Maia is a trailblazer as the first Black female official and inspires us toward normalizing women on the football field.”
The full list of NFL officials have not been finalized for 2021.