OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Early in her days as an official, MK McGee remembers watching a pair of women working a Nebraska state tournament basketball game. They made history as the first all-women two-person crew to officiate a game.
"It was inspiring," she said.
Now, McGee and two other officials — Gwenn Porter and Kelsey Appleby — made history of their own: Another all-woman crew at state, this one with the standard three officials.
McGee said there are about 50 women registered to officiate high school basketball in Nebraska, about 5% of the officials. That number, though, is on the rise.
"It's only been in the last five years that (a three-member all-woman officiating crew at state) could even be a possibility because there weren't a lot of female basketball officials officiating," McGee said.
They officiated a first-round game between Lincoln High and Millard West, and the Class B final between Elkhorn North and Omaha Skutt.
"It's really special to have the opportunity to work not only in a state championship," she said. "But with your peers, with other women who aren't really represented in large numbers in this particular field."
Of course, she said the amount of progress since Title IX was put in place has been "tremendous." But she says there's been significant progress in just the last five to ten years, too.
"It takes people recognizing the value of what we contribute to the game," McGee said.
McGee says there's still progress to be made.
"I would say that there needs to be more representation of females in the boys' game," she said. "It's only been recently that women have worked on the boys' side as well. I would say that's probably the biggest place for growth."
Another member of the history-making crew, Gwenn Porter, said she only remembers one woman who officiated a game she played in high school.
"It was a really special moment," she said. "I had a lot of gratitude for the woman that came before me that allowed me that opportunity." That first two-woman crew in the 90s "paved the way," she said.
Nebraska women who want to enter officiating could contact the Nebraska School Activities Association and, in Omaha, the Premier Sports Officials Association, McGee and Porter said.
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