Friday, December 18, 2020

Alabama's Female College Football Players

Recently Sarah Fuller made college football history by kicking an extra point in the December 12 game between her Vanderbilt Commodores and the Tennessee Volunteers. She had also kicked off in the November 28 game against the Missouri Tigers. She thus became the first woman to play and score points in a Power Five game. However, she was not the first female college athlete to play and score in football games in the U.S. In fact, two women playing for Alabama teams also have significant records in that sport.

The article linked above notes these female milestones in college football:

"Fuller joins Katie Hnida and April Goss as the only women to play in an FBS game. Hnida kicked two extra points for New Mexico against Texas State in 2003. She transferred to New Mexico from Colorado, where she did dress out but did not play in a game for the Buffaloes. Goss, who played at Kent State, kicked an extra point against Delaware State in 2015.

Four other women -- Willamette's Liz Heaston, Jacksonville State's Ashley Martin, West Alabama's Tonya Butler and Lebanon Valley's Brittany Ryan -- have also kicked in college football games at various levels ranging from NAIA to FCS. Heaton became the first woman to score in a college football game in 1997."

Let's look at the specifics for those two Alabama players.

On August 30, 2001, Ashley Martin kicked three extra points for Jacksonville State as they defeated Cumberland University 72-10. In doing so she became the first woman to score points in an NCAA football game. At the time Jacksonville played in Division 1-AA [now the Football Championship Subdivision.] The only previous woman to score in an American football game was Liz Heaston who played for Willamette University in 1997. Willamette played in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. 

Martin played soccer at Jacksonville and joined the Gamecocks football team as a backup place kicker. She had previously played for her high school football team in Sharpsburg,, Georgia. Martin was also homecoming queen at the school, and accepted her crown wearing her football uniform.

Tonya Butler had an outstanding career as a placekicker for her high school team in Fayetteville, Georgia, where she joined the team as a tenth grader. Butler played football at Middle Georgia College, where she received the first football scholarship for a female at a state school. After getting an associate degree there, she played soccer at Georgia Southern and graduated in 2003. 

Butler had two years of football eligibility remaining, and Randy Pippin, her coach at Middle Georgia, offered her a scholarship to play for his new team, the University of West Alabama. Butler enrolled in graduate school and made the 2003 squad. In the first game of the season against Stillman Butler kicked a 27-yard field goal and became the first female to achieve that feat in an NCAA football game. 

Butler played the entire 2003 and 2004 seasons for the Tigers and was voted special teams captain both years. She finished her master's degree at the school in 2005. 

Wikipedia has a running list of females who have played American football at various levels and on various types of teams. I noted at least one middle school and one high school player from Alabama on these lists. 




Ashley Martin kicking for Jacksonville State






Tonya Butler at the University of West Alabama 






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