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Jane Chastain
The first woman sportscaster on the local and national level in the United States. During the CBS National Football League telecast of a game on October 13, 1974, she became the first female NFL announcer, brought in as a commentator alongside Don Criqui and Irv Cross. Chastain was used on occasional NFL broadcasts for the rest of the 1974 season and also worked the college Sun Bowl Game that season. She also worked some CBS National Basketball Association telecasts. -
Phyllis George
She was one of the first women to have a nationally prominent role in television sports coverage. 1975, she joined the cast of The NFL Today, co-hosting live pregame shows before National Football League games. -
Jayne Kennedy
Throughout the 1970s, the model, actress, and sportscaster she was one of the most culturally influential women in the country. Kennedy continued to break ground in 1978 when she joined The NFL Today program on CBS as the first female correspondent for a national sports program. -
Lesely Visser
She is the first female NFL analyst on TV,[1] and the only sportscaster in history (male or female) who has worked on Final Four, NBA Finals, World Series, Triple Crown, Monday Night Football, the Olympics, the Super Bowl, the World Figure Skating Championships and the U.S. Open network broadcasts. In 1976, she was assigned to cover the New England Patriots, becoming the first-ever female NFL beat writer. In 2009, Visser became the first woman to be an analyst for an NFL game on TV. -
Gayle Sierens
She became the first female sportscaster in the Bay Area became the first woman to do play-by-play for an NFL regular season football game. In 1987, through a short stint with NBC Sports, she became the first woman to do play-by-play for an NFL regular season football game. -
Nancy Lieberman
Lieberman, one of the best players in the history of women’s basketball, was hired as an assistant coach for the Sacramento Kings in August 2015, becoming the second female assistant coach in NBA history. -
Linda Cohn
She made sportscasting history by becoming the first full-time U.S. female sports anchor on a national radio network when she was hired by ABC. In 2005, Cohn signed a contract extension with ESPN, which added play-by-play for WNBA telecasts to her duties. -
Hannah Storm
She became the first woman in American television history to act as a solo host of a network's sports package when she hosted NBC Major League Baseball games from 1994 to 2000. Storm joined ESPN on May 10, 2008. She anchors SportsCenter weekdays from 9 am until noon and on Sunday mornings during the NFL season with Bob Ley. In 2018 Storm and Andrea Kremer became the first female duo to call an NFL game, which they did for an Amazon Prime stream of Thursday Night Football. -
Violet Palmer
In 1997, Violet Palmer became the first woman to referee a regular-season NBA game, working the season opener between the Mavericks and the Grizzlies. -
Bonnie Bernstein
She has been named one of the most accomplished female sportscasters in history by the American Sportscasters Association. Bernstein joined CBS Sports in 1998 as the lead sideline reporter for the NCAA Men's Basketball Championships and feature reporter for The NFL Today. She transitioned to sideline reporting for the NFL on CBS. -
Sarah Thomas
Thomas was the first woman to officiate a major college football game, the first to officiate a bowl game, the first to officiate in a Big Ten stadium, and the first women official in the NFL. -
Jennifer Welter
In 2015, Jennifer Welter was named the first female to coach in the NFL. She is currently a coaching intern for the Arizona Cardinals. -
Becky Hammon
In 2014, Rebecca Lynn Hammon is an American-Russian professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association. -
Leandra Reilly
She the first female play-by-play commentator for the NBA. -
Pamela El
She served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at the National Basketball Association. In 2014, she became the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at the National Basketball Association responsible for global marketing for the NBA, WNBA, and NBA D-League.
