When asked why she became an umpire, Pamela Brooks answered, “It’s therapy for me – just seeing kids being kids and being normal.”
Seeing kids play baseball and softball on the weekends might seem normal for many Americans, but for Pamela, this was not her childhood norm. Her parents split when she was young, and she never went to the same school for back-to-back years until the eighth grade. In seventh grade, she found herself in four different schools. Her father left home when she was 8, and her mother battled mental health and substance abuse issues.
At 14, she was placed in foster care. Getting through the day was her challenge; there was no time for her to even consider playing sports. She describes her role as a “parentified child” who had to take care of her younger brother.
Pamela swore when she was older that she would pay it forward and help kids get involved in sports. When she graduated from law school, she began a career in juvenile and domestic relations court. Today, at 59, she is Chief Judge of the Juvenile Domestic Relations District Court in the 20th judicial district in Virginia. She is based about 25 miles from the nation’s capital.
She began umpiring in 2006 and went to become the first female Umpire In Chief (UIC) at the Little League Softball World Series. (She served that position in 2022 and 2023), in addition to umpiring Little League and high school softball games. Her work as an umpire in Little League has all been as a volunteer.
Pamela’s dedication to umpiring and to the community at large is what has led us at UMPS CARE Charities to honor her as a Heart of Gold recipient.
Kelly nominated Pamela, saying she is the “most passionate volunteer and most amazing person I’ve ever met.”
