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Katie Sowers always wanted to be a football coach, but never imagined she would be the first gay female to coach in the Super Bowl.
The 34-year-old is about to enter her fifth season as a coach in the NFL. It's been a remarkable rise for someone who wasn’t striving to make history. Sowers recently told Sports Illustrated:
"When I got into coaching, it was never to be the first. I've never been a believer in racing to be the first, because when you think about these young girls saying, 'I want to be the first female president; I want to be the first this, that or the other,' I think that we end up racing each other."
Katie Sowers' football playing career
Katie Sowers began playing football as an eight-year-old, and her love affair with the game continued throughout her teen years. While attending Goshen College in Indiana, she played for the West Michigan Mayhem and the Kansas City Titans in the Women's Football Alliance.
Sowers also played for the United States women's national American football team that won the 2013 IFAF Women's World Championship. She continued to play in the WFA till her retirement due to a hip injury in 2016.
Katie Sowers' NFL coaching career
After hanging up her cleats, Sowers wasn’t sure she could have a career as a football coach. But after seeing Becky Harmon become a coach in the NBA, she was determined to break into the NFL.
Sowers would meet former Kansas City Chiefs general manager Scott Piloi who would help mentor her and bring her to Atlanta through the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship in 2016. She would work as an intern with the Atlanta Falcons, mainly with their wide receivers group.
In 2017, Sowers would join the San Francisco 49ers, where she would work as an offensive assistant coach. The Niners would make Super Bowl LIV with Sowers on the sidelines; in the process, Sowers made history as the first gay female NFL coach to manage a championship game.
Sowers joined the AFC champions Kansas City Chiefs in May this year. She announced her new role via Instagram:
"Retired from coaching in the NFL? Nah. Kansas City.. I'm home! Huge thanks to the @chiefs organization for believing in me and providing me another opportunity to grow my coaching experience while learning from the best in the game through the Bill Walsh Diversity fellowship. Let's keep growing the game. See you this summer, Chiefs kingdom."
