Elizabeth Heaston Thompson (born 1977) is an American athlete who is the first woman ever to score in a

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

game. She accomplished this feat on October 18, 1997 as a

placekicker Placekicker, or simply kicker (PK or K), is the player in gridiron football who is responsible for the kicking duties of field goals and extra points. In many cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist or punter. Spe ...

for the

Willamette Bearcats football The Willamette Bearcats are the athletic teams of Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, United States. Competing at the non-scholarship National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III level, the school fields twenty teams. Most te ...

team of

Willamette University Willamette University is a private liberal arts college with locations in Salem and Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest college in the Western United States. Originally named the Oregon Institute, the school was an unaffiliated ...

, which then competed in the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stu ...

(NAIA) for small colleges. She also played women's

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

for Willamette. Heaston's accomplishment was widely noted by the media and the sports community.

Life

Heaston was raised in

Richland, Washington Richland () is a city in Benton County, Washington, United States. It is located in southeastern Washington at the confluence of the Yakima and the Columbia Rivers. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 60,560. Along with the nearby c ...

. After graduating she enrolled at

, where she became a star

player, earning All-American honorable mention in 1996 and 1997. In 1997 she joined the football team as a backup

. She became the first woman to play and score points in a college football game during a match between Willamette and

Linfield College Linfield University is a private university with campuses in McMinnville, and Portland, Oregon. Linfield Wildcats athletics participates in the NCAA Division III Northwest Conference. Linfield reported a combined 1,755 students after the fall ...

on October 18, 1997. The 5-foot-5-inch, 120-pound soccer player entered the game as a replacement kicker for Willamette and kicked two

extra point The conversion, try (American football, also known as a point(s) after touchdown, PAT, or (depending on the number of points) extra point/2-point conversion), or convert (Canadian football) occurs immediately after a touchdown during which the sc ...

s as her team won 27-0. The accomplishment resulted in interviews with ''

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was ...

'' and ''

CBS This Morning ''CBS This Morning'' (''CTM'') is an American morning television program that aired on CBS from November 30, 1987, to October 29, 1999, and again from January 9, 2012, to September 6, 2021. The program was aired from Monday through Saturday. ...

''. Heaston's football career lasted two games; she made two of four

attempts. Her jersey hangs on display at the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

. The following year Heaston played only soccer at Willamette, and graduated with a biology degree in 1999. She attended graduate school at

Pacific University Pacific University is a private university in Forest Grove, Oregon. Founded in 1849 as the Tualatin Academy, the original Forest Grove campus is west of Portland. The university maintains three other campuses in Eugene, Hillsboro, and Wood ...

where she earned a doctorate in optometry and met her husband Trent Thompson. She has one daughter, Isabella, and a son and lives and works in her hometown of

, where she works at her father's optometry office along with her husband.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heaston, Liz 1977 births Living people American football placekickers American women's soccer players Women's association footballers not categorized by position Female players of American football People from Richland, Washington Pacific University alumni Willamette Bearcats football players 21st-century American women

Life

See also

References