One woman has made history by becoming the first female, and the first openly gay coach in the history of the Super Bowl.
Katie Sowers has been with the San Francisco 49ers for 2 seasons.
Sowers, 33, has been in the NFL for four seasons, and with the San Francisco 49ers for two. Sowers is an offensive assistant for the team.
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Sowers has also recently achieved fame as the face of Microsoft’s advertising campaign for their new tablet. In the advert, she reads a letter she wrote as a child in which she wrote, “I hope someday I will be a good football player.” Sowers also passionately states, “I’m not just here to be the token female, I’m here to help us win.”
On February 2nd, she will make history.
On February 2nd’s Super Bowl, Sowers will become not only the first female to coach in the event but also the first openly gay person to achieve such a position. The 49ers will be taking on the Kansas City Chiefs on February 2nd.
Her accomplishments have been applauded by her teammates.
49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo called Sowers, “tremendous”.
In an interview, Jimmy Garoppolo shared his admiration for the coach, saying:
“She’s been tremendous. Katie was here before I was, but just what she does with the receivers, all the skill position guys, how she interacts with them. It’s special. She’s feisty, man. Katie is awesome out there. She’ll get after guys […] It’s fun to be around,” Garoppolo told reporters .
Sowers grew up as a fan of the Dallas Cowboys.
Sowers grew up in Hesston, Kansas, and was a gifted athlete as well as a passionate fan of the Dallas Cowboys. She also volunteered as a girls basketball coach while in Kansas.
However, despite her interest in Football, Sowers didn’t start playing organized football until she was an adult with the West Michigan Mayhem of the Women’s Football Alliance, where she played as a quarterback.
Sowers ended up making an important friend while coaching basketball.
Former Kansas City Chiefs general manager, Scott Pioli, met Sowers while Sowers was coaching his daughter’s basketball team. Pioli admired Sowers’ coaching ability and her interest in football and ultimately helped her to get a fellowship with a team in the NFL.
Pioli has long been an advocate of the LGBTQ+ community, but Sowers described how she was nervous about how he may react to her sexual orientation, explaining:
“What I failed to realize I was grouping him into a box. Here’s this high-up NFL executive and how’s he going to react? Knowing his heart and his desire to help people was something I never thought could be possible in everything I assumed about that culture,” she told The Guardian .
Sowers is a strong advocate for LGBTQ+ rights.
While also performing her coaching duties, Sowers also encouraged the 49ers to start up a Pride fan club back in 2018.
A lot of people took to the internet to share their praise for Sowers’ achievement:
“Congratulations Katie! Good luck in the Super Bowl! Should be a really great game.”
“Good for her! Guys who say ‘who cares’ don’t understand the gender bias us women get on a daily basis! It shouldn’t be a big deal, but it is!”
Hopefully, Sowers’ achievement will inspire others.
There are currently eight female coaches in the NFL. And, while that increasing number is great, it shows that there is still a lot of work to be done to help change perceptions in the NFL. The day that coaches are just coaches regardless of gender or sexual-orientation can’t come soon enough; and hopefully, Sowers’ achievements will inspire anyone and everyone to pursue a career in the NFL if that is their dream.
h/t: Daily Mail
