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Two years ago Katie Sowers became the second woman, after Kathryn Smith of the Buffalo Bills, and the first lesbian coach in the National Football League (NFL). She joined the San Francisco 49ers as an assistant coach.
At a very young age, Katie Sowers expressed an interest in football. She played quarterback for the Kansas City Titans in the Women’s Football Alliance and was also a member of the U.S. National Women’s Football Team with whom she won the 2013 IFAF Women’s World Championship.
She later turned to coach players after a busy athletic career.
She made her debut with the Atlanta Falcons as a scouting intern in 2016. It was during this internship that she was spotted by 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan.
When Shanahan offered her to join the 49ers Bill Walsh Minority Fellowship and work with the team’s wide receivers in 2017, she accepted immediately. Another franchise rejected her application because they were not ready for a female coach.
She received a lot of media attention in 2018 when she was promoted offensive assistant based on her excellent results praised by the players and other coaches on the team.
“She’s been tremendous,” Jimmy Garoppolo, quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers. “Katie was here before I was, but just what she does with the receivers, all the skill positions guys, how she interacts with them. It’s special. She’s a feisty man. Katie is awesome out there. She’ll get after guys… It’s fun to be around.”
Then Sowers has kept a low profile and devoted herself fully to her role as coach until a few weeks ago when a Microsoft Surface Pro 7 commercial that recounts her exceptional career aired during the Golden Globes ceremony.
Entitled “Your Dream is Coming”, the ad first shows a page from Sowers’ journal she wrote as a young girl that reads:
“I hope someday I will be a good football player. I am good at football. When we play football at home, I can make a touchdown in one catch. I am the leader of our football club. I hoped someday I will be on a real football team.”
We find her pursuing her dream some years later.
“I’m not just here to be the token female, I’m here to help us win.”
She continues:
“I would want to tell this little girl to keep pushing herself. Your dream is coming.”
Katie Sowers will make history again by becoming the first woman and the first lesbian coach at the Super Bowl.
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