Women make Super Bowl history inspiring South Dakotans

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) -The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs to claim victory in Super Bowl 55. While it was a big night for these teams, a few women also made history at the Super Bowl.

This year, three women played big roles. For the first time, two female coaches, Maral Javadifar and Lori Locust of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, were on the sidelines. Alongside them was Sarah Thomas, the first woman to referee the Super Bowl.

“I love it. I’d love to be in their shoes and be able to do it. I think it’s great. I think society has now realized that not just men, but women can also be good officials and know the game,” said Dawn McInroy.

McInroy has been officiating for 20 years. Currently for South Dakota high school girls basketball and volleyball.

“Once I kind of quit playing competitively, I wanted to be able to give back to the sport and one way to do it was to be on the floor with them. You’ve got the best seat in the house.,” said McInroy.

McInroy says she doesn’t see many women officiating games and hopes that this inspires other women to try it out.

The South Dakota Pheasants Women’s Tackle Football Team is also happy to see more women excelling in these sports roles.

“It’s crazy because when I grew up, women weren’t involved in the NFL at all. The fact is though, we’re getting our names out there and we’re not just women, you know we can be a part of bigger and better things as well,” said Cheyenne Ackman, Owner of South Dakota Pheasants Women’s Tackle Football.

Kelcie Vercel, an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Augustana University says stories like this also help inspire the next generation.

“Working with, you know college students, you know one thing that sort of defines what careers they, you know think about or consider has to do with, you know what they’ve seen and what they see as being possible,” said Vercel.

Now a few more possibilities have been added to the list.

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