Sports and society intersect in Black women’s history
Written by Black Hot Fire Network on March 7, 2025
When Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts stepped onto the field for Super Bowl LVII (57) on February 12, 2023, he became part of women’s history, specifically Black women’s history, as the first Super Bowl player to be represented by a Black woman. But his agent, Nicole Lynn, had already been a trailblazer.
The president of football operations at Klutch Sports Group who holds a law degree from the University of Oklahoma and is member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, in 2019, Lynn became the first Black woman to represent a top-three NFL Draft pick when the Jets selected Quinnen Williams at No. 3.
The 36-year-old former Wall Street financial analyst and intern for the National Football League Players Association, is a thread in the lineage of Ursula Burns, the first Black woman to serve as CEO of Fortune 500 company, leading Xerox from 2009-16; Dr. Dorothy Lavinia Brown, the recognized as the first Black female surgeon in the United States; and Dr. Mae Jemison, an astronaut who is first Black woman to travel into space.
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With Women’s History Month 2025 in its first week, Black women are perpetual history makers in a white patriarchal society, defying odds and dismantling structural norms in industries that have portrayed them as physically and intellectually inferior, lacking the fundamental and requisite necessities to scale to the the peak of their chosen professions.
In a story by Paris Beach published last month on rollingout.com, Lynn spoke about the male-dominated sports agency business.
“When I walked into this industry, I was navigating a male-dominated space that really didn’t want women,” she said. “I had to constantly prove that I belonged in the room. There are times when you feel like you don’t belong, like you need to shrink yourself.
“But I’ve learned that the only way to truly claim your space is to be intentional about making your voice heard. I make sure that I have a vote, that my presence is felt.”
That is the journey of many Black women. But their indomitable will always ends up superseding doubt and barriers. The words of Althea Gibson — the first African American to win a tennis Grand Slam title with her 1956 victory at the French Open — spoken decades ago, remain resonant.
“The loser is always a part of the problem. The winner is always a part of the answer. The loser always has an excuse. The winner always has a program. The loser says it may be possible, but it’s difficult. The winner says it may be difficult, but it’s possible.”
