BLACK GIRL MAGIC: Welcome to the NFL, Sandra Douglass Morgan!
New sports columnist D’Andre Miller shares the news of Sandra Douglass Morgan, the newest hire to the Las Vegas Raiders and what her position as president means for women in sports.
In a stunning and progressive move from the front office, one of the league’s historic franchises made history recently. The Las Vegas Raiders decided to use the Rooney Rule to their advantage and hire a candidate of African-American descent.
Not only was the qualified candidate African-American, BUT THE NEW TEAM PRESIDENT IS FEMALE! FEMALE? YES, FEMALE!
Never have we seen something of this sort. There will be a female amongst the male executive board members.
Her name is Sandra Douglass Morgan and she will be a part of making the tough decisions like hiring and firing, but also personnel decisions for the Las Vegas Raiders.
I’m guessing your wondering who Sandra Douglass Morgan is? She was born in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 10, 1978. Ironically enough, she will be associated with her hometown team.
Morgan was born to her father, Gilbert, who was an Air Force Veteran and her mother, Kilcha, who is Korean. Morgan also attended the University of Nevada in 1999 and graduated with bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Communication.
She went to also get her degree in Law around 2003. While attending the University of Nevada, she met her life partner and husband Don Morgan, who had a brief stint in the NFL. She also became a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Morgan became a litigation lawyer and city attorney.
She even worked for the Nevada Gaming Control Board before creating her own consultant business, Douglass Morgan, LLC.
In a sport that is dominated by males, it is a breath of fresh air to see a female in such a high position of authority. Not only a female, but an African-American female. There have been other females with different ethnicities and African-American males who have graced their presence in the NFL.
The NFL has had their fair share of female owners like Amy Adams Strunk (Tennessee Titans) and Martha Firestone Ford (Detroit Lions). Some of the teams being acquired through inheritance. Gayle Sierens was the first female to ever do a play-by-play announcer for the NFL. After awhile, the NFL allowed the women to transition to being on the field with the players. In 2015, Sarah Thomas became the first female to officiate an NFL game.
It didn’t take long for women to make more history in the NFL the following year, when Kathryn Smith became the first female named to a full-time coaching position with the Buffalo Bills. Katie Sowers was the first female to coach in the Super Bowl with San Francisco 49ers. More relatable to Morgan’s case, Jennifer King became the first African-American woman to coach. She’s currently on the Washington Commanders coaching staff. So like Morgan, others have made groundbreaking history in the NFL.
This a major win for women everywhere. The NFL proved to be the one of the largest organizations that acknowledged their wrongdoing by promoting a black women in the front office. Lately, the NFL has had their mishaps when it came to women in the past. The Ray Rice altercation with his wife only costed him 2 games of that NFL season.
Greg Hardy’s domestic violence case saw his suspension of 10 games reduced to 4 games and looking at the gruesome photos should’ve warranted a lot more than just 4 games. Deshaun Watson is currently feeling the heat from the media and women who have allegedly been sexually assaulted by him.
Not to mention all of the legal issues involving the Washington Commanders and owner Dan Snyder, who is currently facing legal troubles like sexual harassment and workplace misconduct towards females.
Not only has Morgan scored a major win for women, but she also has a major win for her race as well. There aren’t too many African-Americans within the front office. There are 5 out of 32 African-American GMs in the NFL front office. The GMs are Andrew Berry (Cleveland), Martin Mayhew (Washington), Chris Grier (Miami), and newly hired Ryan Poles (Chicago) and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah (Minnesota).
The NFL has tried to alter the Rooney Rule numerous times to provide a fair shot to minority candidates, but it never seems to manifest within the confines of the NFL. Mainly because the owners would much rather keep the league as THEIR league. But moving forward we will see if the rest of the league will follow in the Las Vegas Raiders’ footsteps.
Morgan is living her ancestors’ wildest dreams. She owes it to herself to continue to work hard and prove that owner Mark Davis didn’t make a mistake by putting her within the front office. Morgan will obviously be met with a strong disapproval from other teams front offices, but she could prove everyone wrong by just being herself and committing to what got her here.
Morgan has dealt with the worse of the worst by being featured in courtrooms as a city attorney, so this is a battle she will be capable of handling fairly well. Morgan will also have a bunch of young females watching the moves she makes and how much she progresses in this role. I know one thing for sure: There are a bunch of people rooting for her!
