Patricia Palinkas

American football player who became the first woman to play in a professional American football game when she kicked for the Orlando Panthers in 1970.

Patricia Palinkas, née Barczi, was born in 1943 in Chicago, Illinois, to parents of Hungarian descent, and attended Northern Illinois University, though she did not play football there, instead teaching military children at U.S. bases in Japan and Germany after graduating before meeting her future husband, Steve Palinkas, and moving to Florida. Palinkas made history on 15 August 1970, appearing as a holder for her husband, a placekicker, with the Orlando Panthers of the minor-league Atlantic Coast Football League, becoming the first woman ever to play American football professionally in a predominantly male league. Palinkas's debut drew national attention and controversy at a time when women's participation in contact sports remained deeply contested, and she remained the sport's only woman professional player for 40 years, until Katie Hnida signed with the Fort Wayne Firehawks in 2010. Palinkas died on 21 June 2025, at age 81 or 82, remembered as a pioneering figure whose brief but historic appearance opened a conversation about women's place in American football that continued to develop for decades afterward.

Placekicker specializing in extra points and field goals

Broke gender barriers in professional sports and paved the way for future female athletes in traditionally male sports

• First woman to play professional American football (1970)
• Pioneer of women in professional sport
• Historical first