When it was announced that Ellis would officiate her first NASL game, some individuals thought it was a publicity stunt. "This is no lark like when the Chicago Sting once draft a Playboy Bunny," NASL director of information Vince Casey told the Chicago Tribune at the time. "You can be certain that Betty has paid her dues and from all accounts she's a very capable official."
A week prior, Ellis had worked as a fourth official for the NASL match between the San Jose Earthquakes and the Edmonton Drillers on Mother's Day, May 10, 1981.
Six days later, the 40-year-old Ellis found herself in the spotlight as a linesperson for the game in Portland. It was not without a bit of controversy.
In the 25th minute, Ellis caused some confusion on a goal by Portland's Canadian international Dale Mitchell. She signaled for a corner kick although he ball actually had gone into the net. Ellis said that her depth perception was confused because the Timbers used new black nets. Kibritjian ruled that the goal was good.
"It looked as though there was something wrong with the goal,” said Ellis in 1981. “Both teams got very excited. It was extremely tense. The referee [Kibritjian] came over to me and asked, what was wrong? Did anything happen? Was it offside? What it looked like to the crowd was that Toros came over and to nullify the goal. But it was a good goal."
"I just about died. If I could, I would have pulled up the carpet and crawled in."
Overall, Ellis received high marks from referee assessor in what was a 2-0 Portland win.
"I was really tested, and not just by the fans and by the players and by the coaches, and the couple assessors that were sitting in the stands," she said recently. "I was being tested by myself. Do you have the heart to do this? Do you have the mindset to do this? Are you prepared?"
On May 31, Ellis worked the Earthquakes' home game against the Boomers at cozy Spartan Stadium. Beforehand, she was introduced to the crowd and received a standing ovation. That reaction eventually changed.
"I don't know if you've ever been in the old Earthquakes' stadium in San Jose, but it's not very big, and the crowd is really close to the sidelines," said Ellis, who brought her five children to the game from their Santa Rosa, Calif. home. "The kids were small, and people were yelling and screaming."
Mostly because she had called the Quakes’ No. 11, a Northern Ireland midfielder, offside, not once, but twice.
"A good-looking guy," Ellis remembered.
That good looking guy happened to be George Best.
"I thought people were coming out of the stands and screaming," Ellis said. "But even the coach later said that they were good calls."
The calls didn’t impact Best, who, doing things that Best did, ended up scoring twice in Earthquakes’ 4-3 win.
When someone is a pioneer, she needs to have the right attitude, demeanor and talent to take criticism, taunts and abuse and even when sexism raised its ugly head.
"Many referees reacted differently working with female referees in a professional game," Kibritjian wrote in an email. "Some of them were very comfortable and some very nervous. I felt privileged having her on the sideline. She worked harder than most male assistants."
Ellis became a student of officiating, taking criticism to heart.
"She always took pregame instructions seriously and asked if her performance was acceptable at half time and at the end," Kibritjian said. "Betty improved tremendously game after game.
"Her most professional attitude towards players and coaches made her popular with everyone involved, even though they disagreed with some decisions. She was most graceful whenever being questioned by a coach about a crucial decision she had to make.
"She was the most graceful lady I have ever met in my lifetime."
Ellis became an instant celebrity. She was interviewed on Good Morning America and was the subject of many newspaper stories.
