Trailblazer: Thai Floyd breaking barriers

It all started with a Facebook post. 

While perusing her Facebook news feed one day, Thai Floyd saw a post by West Orange High School head football coach Mike Granato advertising for a public address announcer for the Warriors’ junior varsity home games. 

Her response? “First woman in history?”

Five minutes later, she was surprised to see a lot of people respond with support and encouragement. 

“They were saying ‘Yes! Do it! Do it!,’” Floyd said. “I then said, ‘Well, I guess I’m locked in.’” 

Floyd certainly had the background for the position. Besides being a Class of 2015 graduate from West Orange, she also was raised around the game of football. Her father, William Floyd, played fullback for Florida State and was part of the Seminoles’ 1993 National Championship-winning team before moving on to the NFL for seven seasons. He won a Super Bowl in 1994 with the San Francisco 49ers and is currently a color commentator for the Seminole ISP Sports Network. 

Her older brother, William Jr., played high school football for Olympia, and her younger brother, Jaden, played for West Orange. He is currently a defensive back for Florida State. 

“We used to be outside playing ball against each other,” Floyd said. “I learned how to run routes so that I could compete against my brother. I always say if I were a man, I would probably be in the NFL right now, because I love the game so much.”  

Even so, that did not mean there weren’t any nerves before announcing her first game. 

“I had not done a lot of live things, so that was the part that made me nervous, but my football background helped,” Floyd said. 

With a degree in journalism from Florida A&M University, her mom’s alma mater, Floyd had experience in journalism-related fields such as radio. But getting comfortable with PA announcing took some time.

“It requires you to constantly pay attention, and you have to do a million other things, so it’s not as easy as people would assume it is,” Floyd said. “You’re the eye in the sky. Sometimes, there is a group of players going in for the tackle, but you don’t get numbers. It’s difficult, but it’s rewarding and fulfilling.” 

Floyd said she enjoys the community’s support and encouragement, which has boosted her confidence with each game. She also is aware of the impact she is having — particularly on other women — and she saw it firsthand during JV team’s home game against Ocoee Oct. 6.

“I was in the booth, and one of the cheer coaches came up to announce the JV team. Her daughters were in there, and they went, ‘That’s so cool!’ about me announcing,” Floyd said. “It feels good to know that I’m inspiring people to know that women have a place in sports.” 

Going forward, she hopes to continue to do that.

“I’m the first (to do the job as a woman), but I hope I’m not the last,” Floyd said. “It’s indescribable to think about. I want to inspire those moving forward in my career as well.” 

Although she has only just begun, Floyd eventually will be moving on to work as a media correspondent for the Southwestern Athletic Conference, a college athletic conference comprising primarily of historically black colleges and universities in the Southern United States.