When Megan Pumphrey steps on to the court, she becomes an unanticipated role model. She’s not a player, those days are behind the Hoquiam Middle School physical education and health teacher, she’s not even a coach — she’s a referee.
Pumphrey officiates more than 120 basketball games a season, on both the male and female side of the sport. This year, she was selected by the Grays Harbor Board of the Washington Officials Association (WOA) to officiate the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) Boys State Basketball Tournament. She was the only female official at the tournament.
“It was kind of an honor, but it also makes me want to get more females involved,” she said. “There are some that are involved, but there are not even that many on the female sign that call. It’s hard to get our female athletes to see that as an option if there’s no one there.”
While at the tournament, officials are evaluated by the WOA based on mechanics and their knowledge of the rules. The association then ranks participating officials, with the top six officials earning a spot to call championship games. Pumphrey was ranked seventh.
“There were a lot of names there that have been officiating for a long time, and they’re good, quality officials. So to be even considered in that group is pretty awesome,” she said.
Pumphrey has been officiating for 10 years, a practice she started while living in Texas. A desire to make some extra money and reconnect with the game led to her back to the court as a referee.
As a former Hoquiam High School student herself, Pumphrey was excited to bring her experience as an official to her hometown.
“I played basketball throughout all of growing up, basically from kindergarten on,” she said. “I went to Hoquiam High School and played from 2002-2006; I was a four-year varsity letter there. That was the end of basketball for a while, but once I got out of college I wanted to get back into it and I wasn’t coaching, so I went to officiate,” she said.
This was Pumphrey’s third appearance at the WIAA state basketball tournament, but despite her recurring role, the representation of female officials still lags behind. When it comes to the prevalence of female referees, Pumphrey’s experience as the only woman is not uncommon.
The National Football League (NFL) hired Sarah Thomas as first full-time female official in 2015. Thomas made headlines in 2021 when she became the first female to referee the Super Bowl when the Kansas City Chiefs played the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Tampa.
At the amateur sports level, other state sports associations are hoping to recruit more female officials to fill pandemic-induced staffing shortages. The Nebraska School Activities Association (NSAA) is filling a 15 percent drop in certified officials by bringing more female officials into the fold.
“At first it was officiating to make extra money, and then I realized how much I missed the sport and wanted to get back into the game,” said Pumphrey. “I didn’t have any role models in officiating, but I did in playing and coaching, so it translates into that.”
Although she hopes to recruit graduating athletes staying in the area to the WOA, Pumphrey can’t reduce barriers to female officiating alone: change must also come from the stands.
“By not having that sportsmanship, not having that support in the gym and not having that backing from the administration, it is deterring a lot of potential applicants from coming out and officiating,” she said.
Pumphrey knows she can’t always make the perfect call, but she finds that being a referee often gives fans a license to yell at her.
“We are humans, and it’s demoralizing to be treated that way,” she said.
While Pumphrey works to get more local females involved in officiating, she will also serve as the Fastpitch softball coach at Aberdeen High School.
