Maia Chaka: The NFL has named Maia Chaka the first female game official, an exclusive report on NBC's TODAY show announced.
On Friday, the NFL made the historic announcement as Chaka was named the first Black woman to become a referee.
Chaka, who got the life changing call on Monday, initially thought she was being deceived. The NFL vice president of officiating evaluation and development Wayne Mackie told her she was joining the ranks of NFL officials.
Mentioning a part of the conversation she said, “He goes, 'Welcome to the National Football League,' and I just went nuts".
"I asked him, 'Hey are you punking me, you've gotta be kidding me,' because I've been at it for so long, I just never thought the day would come. I just enjoyed working."
“It’s just an honor to join the National Football League," Chaka said in the show.
"Just because I’ve been at it for so long and I just never thought the day would come," Chaka told Savannah Guthrie, Craig Melvin and Sheinelle Jones.
"Sometimes we don’t take time to stop and smell our own roses," she added.
The former physical education teacher from Virginia Beach is now the second woman to become an NFL referee after Sarah Thomas, who has been officiating in the league since 2015 . Last month, Thomas was the first female referee to be in the Super Bowl crew.
Chaka and Thomas were among the 21 referees for the NFL Officiating Development Program and has been part of the league since 2014. According to The Virginian-Pilot, she began her career in 2006 with high school games and then eventually moved up to college ranks to Conference USA.
Recently, Maia Chaka has been working Pac-12 games as well as also the sidelines for the short-lived XFL last year.
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