Who Is Maia Chaka? Maia Chaka Becomes First Black Woman To Officiate NFL Game In Week 1

Maia Chaka

Maia Chaka made history in NFL Week 1 as by stepping on to the field as a referee, she becomes the first ever black woman to officiate a league game.

She’ll be refereeing the Jets-Panthers game taking place in the afternoon slate of games today, in Carolina. The Panthers-Jets game is marked by Sam Darnold trying to get revenge on his former team after being released by the New York Jets this offseason, but Chaka’s news is huge too.

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Who Is Maia Chaka?

With the NFL looking to progress forward in terms of creating more opportunities for women to enter the field, Chaka is taking a major step forward.

In an Instagram post Chaka said, “It’s a privilege that I’ve been chosen to represent women and women of color in the most popular sport in America.”

Chaka becomes the third woman official in the NFL after Sarah Thomas and Shannon Eastin. Considering the NFL is 100 years old, this is a monumental step.

“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 was selected in 2014 as a part of the league’s officiating development program and has continued to work her way up from there. Before that, she was a health and PE teacher at Renaissance Academy in Virginia Beach.

Senior NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations Troy Vincent said the following about Chaka:

“Maia’s years of hard work, dedication and perseverance — including as part of the NFL Officiating Development Program — have earned her a position as an NFL official. As we celebrate Women’s History Month, Maia is a trailblazer as the first Black female official and inspires us toward normalizing women on the football field.”

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Post Edited By: Ashish Priyadarshi
Carolina Panthers Maia Chaka New York Jets NFL

About the author

Ashish Priyadarshi

Ashish Priyadarshi is The SportsRush's content manager and editor. Ashish freelanced for 1 year in the NFL division before taking on an editorial role in the company. He then tacked on managing content while adding on a writing role in the NBA division. Ashish has been closely following the NFL and NBA since the 2012 season when the Patriots lost the Super Bowl and Derrick Rose was at the height of his powers. Since then, Ashish has focused on honing his knowledge for both leagues in, even writing crossover pieces. In his free time, Ashish is an avid basketball player, he loves to watch movies and TV shows, immersing himself in the cinematic world. Ashish studies computer science and data science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and would love to mesh his love for sports with his technical skills.

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