EAST LOS ANGELES COLLEGE’S FIRST FEMALE FOOTBALL PLAYER FEATURED IN SUPER BOWL LIII COMMERCIAL THIS SUNDAY
MONTEREY PARK, Calif.—Ms. Toni Harris, the first female football player ever for the East Los Angeles College (ELAC) Huskies, is the featured star of a Toyota commercial that is scheduled to air before an estimated 100 million television viewers during Super Bowl LIII on Sunday, February 3, 2019.
Ms. Harris was also featured this week in a four-minute-long news segment during a national network broadcast of CBS This Morning that highlighted her remarkable story and her role model status for future female football players. CBS carried the poignant interview with Ms. Harris and premiered the Toyota commercial. The broadcast and commercial are online atBit.ly/ELACToniHarris.
In her interview with CBS, Ms. Harris said that what motivates her the most to play football is “people telling me I can’t. I love to prove people wrong. A message I want to send to younger girls is to keep your dream alive.”
Ms. Harris, No. 31, plays defense as a Free Safety for the ELAC Huskies Football Team and has been an important part of the team’s success, according to ELAC Head Football Coach Bobby Godinez.
“Toni Harris has shown great resolve in her journey and quest to be a college football player. She has shown herself to be a great teammate here at East Los Angeles College and a great member of this community. We all wish her the best in her journey beyond ELAC,” Godinez said.
Ms. Harris is one of the few women ever to play full contact college football. She joined the ELAC Huskies team in June 2017 and has been playing football since she was about six years old in her hometown of Detroit, Michigan.
Ms. Harris, an ELAC Honors Student, says she wants to continue in her football career and become the first female player in the history of the National Football League. She has received multiple scholarship offers to continue playing football after her time at ELAC, but has not committed yet to any specific four-year college team.
