Women's gridiron football (including American football and Canadian football) is a form of the sport played by women. Most leagues in the United States, such as the Women's Football Alliance, play by rules similar to men's tackle football.[1] Although women's flag football is emerging as a collegiate sport,[2] women playing gridiron football at the college level have historically joined men's teams, often (though not exclusively) as placekickers.[3]
The following is a list of some of the most notable female American football players.
College players
Almost all of the women who have played on predominantly male college and professional football teams have done so by playing either the placekicker or holder positions.[40] Both positions are rarely involved in the full contact present in American football.
Placekickers
- Liz Heaston – First woman to play and score in a college football game, kicking two extra points on October 18, 1997, as a placekicker with the Willamette Bearcats in the NAIA.[4][41] A star soccer player, Heaston had been recruited as a replacement for the injured starting kicker, and had trained with the team for three weeks;[41] she played in only one other football game for Willamette.[5]
- Ashley Martin – Second female athlete to score in a college football game, and the first to score in an NCAA Division I game on August 30, 2001, as a placekicker for Jacksonville State University.[42][4] She kicked three extra points in a game against Cumberland University;[5] JSU was then in Division I-AA, which later became known as FCS.[4]
- Katie Hnida – First woman to score in an NCAA Division I-A football game on August 30, 2003, as a placekicker for the University of New Mexico, kicking two points against Texas State University.[4][43] Also the first woman to appear in a bowl game, at the 2002 Las Vegas Bowl against UCLA, during which her extra point attempt was blocked.[4] (See also "Players in predominantly male football leagues" above.)
- Tonya Butler – First woman to score a field goal in an NCAA game on September 27, 2003, while playing for the University of West Alabama Tigers in Division II as a graduate student.[44][45] By 2004, Butler had scored 87 career points, setting an NCAA record for a female kicker.[4]
- Brittany Ryan – Scored 100 career points as placekicker for Lebanon Valley College of NCAA Division III in 2010, breaking Tonya Butler's record for most career points scored by a female player in the NCAA.[46][4]
- Sarah Fuller – First woman to play in a Power Five football game on November 28, 2020, after taking the opening kickoff of the second half for the Vanderbilt Commodores football team who were playing Missouri.[47] Fuller was a starting goalkeeper on the Vanderbilt women's soccer team, who had won the SEC Championship title the previous weekend;[47] she tried out for the men's football team on the Monday before the game, because they were short of specialists due to COVID-19 testing, and needed a kicker.[48] On December 12, 2020, Fuller became the first woman to score a point in a Power Five football game, after kicking an extra point in a Vanderbilt game against Tennessee.[49]
- April Goss: Former college football placekicker at Kent State University.[50]
- KaLena "Beanie" Barnes: Former punter, and first woman to play on a top ten ranked Division I-A team, for the University of Nebraska.[51]
- Leilani Armenta: Placekicker for the Jackson State Tigers. First woman to score in an HBCU game, scoring three extra points in an October 29, 2023 game against Arkansas Pine-Bluff.[52]
- Madison Barch: First woman to score non-kicking points in college football at any level (NCAA, NAIA, etc.), caught a two-point conversion in an NCAA Division III game at Trine University on November 11, 2023. A placekicker for the Kalamazoo College Hornets, Barch finished her career making 35-of-41 extra point attempts. [53]
Other positions
- Toni Harris – First woman to be offered a full college football scholarship, playing in a full-contact skill position.[54][55] By the end of her community college career as free safety for East Los Angeles Community College, Harris had received scholarship offers from six universities, and finally signed with Central Methodist University, an NAIA school.[55][54] Harris was also the first female football player in a television ad aired during the Super Bowl, appearing in a commercial for Toyota during Super Bowl LIII in February 2019.[56] In February 2020, Harris appeared in an "NFL 100" commercial at the opening of Super Bowl LIV.[57]
- Shelby Osborne – Became the first female to play a non-kicking position at a four-year college after signing in summer 2014 to play cornerback at Campbellsville University, an NAIA school.[58]
- Sam Gordon – Running back, Salt Lake City. Her play in a youth football league[59] led to her becoming the first female football player featured on a Wheaties box.[60]
- Reina Iizuka – First woman to appear on a U Sports (Canadian) football roster; DB/LB for the University of Manitoba.[61]
- Taylor Crout – The first female to play a non-kicking position in an NCAA game at any level, for the D3 Fitchburg State Falcons on September 9, 2023.[62] Two weeks later, Haley Van Voorhis also appeared in a non-kicking position, for the D3 Shenandoah Hornets.[63]
- Lily Godwin – First female in NCAA history to record a solo tackle, as a LB for the University of Puget Sound Loggers, a D3 school.[64]