By Rodney Haas 

605 Sports 

VERMILLION — Two years after becoming the first woman in South Dakota history to be a head referee for a championship basketball game, Genevieve Dement-Osborn once again found herself breaking a glass ceiling.   

Dement-Osborn was the line judge for Thursday’s Howard vs. Parkston 9AA championship game, becoming the first woman to officiate a South Dakota state football championship.

“I’m excited because of how important the event is, and scared because I want to do a good job,” Dement-Osborn said on Monday before Thursday's championship game. “This isn’t about me. It’s about our crew. Our crew got selected but I’m proud of that crew, but I want to be deserving of this.” 

Dement-Osborn, who lives in Rapid City is part of a crew that includes referee Brad Tucker (Rapid City), umpire Steve Hilton (Piedmont), head linesman Greg McNabb (Rapid City), back judge Tanner Tucker (New Underwood) and alternate Scott Jacobson (Rapid City) 

“To be the first female to work a state championship game for football, this is really impactful for me,” Dement-Osborn said. “Women are not associated with football. In basketball you are, but to be selected with my crew is a humongous milestone.”

Genevieve Dement-Osborn discuses a call with referee Brad Tucker and head linesman Gregg McNabb during the 9AA championship game Thursday at the DakotaDome in Vermillion. (Photo by Rodney Haas/605 Sports)

For Dement-Osborn, who graduated from Hot Springs in 1997 and went on to play college basketball in Wyoming before returning to South Dakota in 2002, has been officiating basketball for a few years, but didn’t get into officiating football until two years ago. 

“Everyone in passing has been saying I should do football and I just kinda laughed it off,” she said. “Then Justin Ingalls (the South Dakota High School Activities Association's officials coordinator) came out to the state basketball tournament a couple years ago and we had coffee and he looked me in the eye and said ‘Gen, you need to do football.’ ”

Dement-Osborn spent the summer of 2022 going to clinics and football jamborees in an effort to get eyes on the field, essentially engulfing herself in football to learn every aspect of the sport. 

Afterward, she took the certification test and passed and had three different officiating crews wanting to pick her up.   

“As a statewide coordinator for officials for the South Dakota High School Association, I absolutely encourage our officials to look at sports that maybe they didn’t play or are not officiating,” Ingalls said. “Are there opportunities for them to cross-pollinate into those other sports? She has a great network of mentors around her to help and she’s worked really hard to contribute to the crew and officiate not just in her area but across the state.”

While Dement-Osborn isn’t new to officiating, making the jump from football to basketball did have some challenges. 

For starters, Dement-Osborn said the biggest challenge at first was understanding the game and the positions for each player, compared to basketball where there’s five players and the positions are pretty simple — guards, forwards and center.   

“In football there’s just so many positions and just understanding that part of the game,” she said. “If you played it you have a natural sense of how things flow. I’ve watched a lot of football and watched a lot of football on TV. I’m a fan of football and I’ve been to a lot of professional games, but being out there and trying to analyze it from a rules aspect in what’s legal and what’s not legal is hard because you have to understand the positions.”

Genevieve Dement-Osborn serves as line judge during the 9AA championship game Thursday at the DakotaDome in Vermillion. (Photo by Rodney Haas/605 Sports)

Perhaps the biggest disadvantage Dement-Osborn has is the fact she hasn’t played the game, compared to her male counterparts who grew up playing football. 

However, that tide could be changing in the years to come. This year Pierre has two girls kickers, Ryann Barry and Brianna Sargent, that will be on the sidelines Friday night when the Governors play the Yankton Bucks for the Class 11AA title, and in some states girls flag football has been added as a sanctioned high school sport. 

Ingalls points to Title IX, the landmark federal law in 1972 that prohibits sex-based discrimination for the opportunities that Dement-Osborn along with Barry and Sargent have enjoyed. 

He added that he’s hopeful one day girls like Barry and Sargent may follow in the footsteps of Dement-Osborn and become an official. 

“Well if my vision comes true they would be,” Ingalls said. “We absolutely hope for that.”

As for Dement-Osborn, she just wants to be treated equally. She said when you register to become an official, there’s no checkbox for male or female. It just says official.   

“I want to be given the same opportunity as other officials,” Dement-Osborn said. “There is no distinction between male and female when you register with the state and take a test. You are just an official wearing stripes.

“I feel really blessed to have this opportunity and I’m humbled by it and I want to be a role model for my girls and other women. I never played football but I was given the opportunity to officiate it and it’s a lot of fun.”