Beth Mowins was the first woman to call a regular season NFL game in 30 years on Monday, following in the footsteps of her childhood icon Gayle Sierens who made history doing the play-by-play on the final Sunday of the 1987 season.
Although she never called another, Sierens’ achievement made a poignant impression on Mowins who was in the booth for Monday night’s Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Chargers game. Then she will surpass Sierens by also joining Jay Feely in the CBS booth on Sept. 24 for a regional Browns-Colts telecast, Yahoo Sports reported.
By all acounts, she did an excellent job on the second game of ESPN's "Monday Night Football" doubleheader, The Boston Globe said, and noticeably better than her rookie broadcast partner, Rex Ryan.
Mowins, now 50, grew up broadcasting neighborhood kickball games into a toy microphone, and first learned of Sierens’ feat after her father gave her a newspaper clipping featuring the legendary sportscaster. Mowins spoke of Sierens’ influence in an interview with CNN.
"I was already a budding sportscaster back then," Mowins recalled. "What she was able to do so many years ago ... to see what she had done, and sort of plant the seed in my mind of somebody else has already done this: I can do it, too."
As the voice of the Women's College World Series for more than 20 years, Mowins has become a familiar face to viewers. Since 2005 she called college football for ESPN, and men's and women's college basketball. In 2015, Mowins began calling the Oakland Raiders preseason games.
With the NFL estimating that approximately 45% of its fans are female, a second woman breaking into play-by-play sportscasting after 30 years is long overdue.
Mowins had the chance to meet Sierens at the 2010 NCAA women’s volleyball tournament. The two struck up a friendship and bonded over Sierens’ stories of her once-off play-by-play experience and Mowins’ aspirations.
Sierens spoke with excitement about Mowins’ turn in the booth:
"Beth's going to be a regular ... which is going to open doors for a lot of other women in ways that my – almost 'event,' you could call it, more than anything – d id not do," Sierens said.
Mowins was being praised for her own historic call.
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