POLK IN UNIFORM, 1994. GIFT OF JODIE POLK GUERRA | PHOTO COURTESY HEINZ HISTORY CENTER

On Sept. 2, 1994, a girl stepped onto the gridiron and made football history.

Jodie Polk, a senior who started out as a trainer for the Penn-Trafford Warriors, showed Coach John Yaccino her ability to make extra points during training camp and made the team. She also starred for the varsity soccer, basketball and track teams.

In the Warriors’ season opener, Polk scored the extra point after Jim Moore’s touchdown in the first quarter. According to the WPIAL executive director at the time, Charles Heberling, Polk was the first female ever to score a point in WPIAL history; some believed she was the first ever to play in a game.

PHOTO COURTESY HEINZ HISTORY CENTER, GIFT OF JODIE POLK GUERRA, PHOTO FROM STANDARD OBSERVER BY SCOTT RODGERS

Polk kicked all of the team’s extra points through the season and made 15 of 17, placing third on the team in total points scored. Her extra point won the team their game versus Norwin that season, with a final score of 7-6, and she was given the KDKA Extra Effort award. The Warriors finished the season 2-8.

Polk paved the way for two other female kickers — Casey Aunkst kicked 58 extra points for Penn-Trafford 20 years after Polk, and the Warriors have their third female varsity kicker this year, Alexis Brown. Polk’s Penn-Trafford jersey is currently on display inside the History Center’s “A Woman’s Place: How Women Shaped Pittsburgh” exhibition.