Beauty Queen Trades in Crown for Fantasy Sports Gig
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009As we all know, fantasy sports are solely for nerdy middle-aged men who unfailingly reside in their parents’ basements. Apparently, though, no one has shared this info with Caitlin Morrall.
If that name or the corresponding picture seem familiar, then you might know her from her days as a beauty queen. And that’s not opinion coming across. Among Morrall’s actual accomplishments was being named Miss Wisconsin USA for 2007 and then becoming the state’s only rep in the past 30 years to place among the top 15 nationally.
Now, however, folks can find her at World Fantasy Games headquarters or, more easily, as the main real face on RapidDraft.
“I was substitute teaching to make ends meet and met (WFG CEO) Jeff Thomas,” Morrall tells FSB.com. “He was aware of my freelance work with Fox Sports Wisconsin and my time as a blogger and weekly co-host on ESPN Milwaukee’s midday show The D-List. We sat down and chatted about my future goals, and he thought I would be a good fit for a plethora of opportunities within his company, including the production and launch of RapidDraft Fantasy Football.”
Thomas says that Morrall brings much more than a pretty face to the company and the product.
“It was obvious to me immediately that Caitlin can become a talented sports journalist,” he says. “She knows fantasy sports, and she can mix it up with any fantasy sports crowd. She will bring a perfect mix of class, sports knowledge and entertainment to RapidDraft. She’s real, she’s beautiful and she knows sports — a mix that works for her and will work for the real people that play RapidDraft.”
Although Morrall is new to the fantasy industry, sports are certainly not new to her.
“I come from a sports fan family,” she says. “My dad lives and dies with the Packers, and my mom loves just about any sport there is because she grew up being mostly around her dad and brothers. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t watch football on a Sunday or go to as many Milwaukee Bucks games as possible.”
Morrall proclaims herself a “football girl” and says she’s about as useless on fall Sundays as most of the folks who read this site. She proved to be more than just a fan, though, by earning an internship with ESPN Milwaukee radio in 2007 following a guest appearance on the station’s The D-List.
Come football season, Morrall did a weekly segment called “Beauty and the Geeks” in which she talked football and picked games against the two D-List hosts and the producer (ranking second at season’s end). The segment was successful enough to earn her a spot as a blogger and more time on the air.
She’ll be doing many of those same things for RapidDraft. Morrall will be among the football bloggers who will provide material throughout the week and will co-host a daily show on BlogTalkRadio with Pat Hegewald. Although she is also involved in the production of the game, Morrall says she favors the on-air stuff.
“I love my job with World Fantasy Games because it gives me that opportunity to do various things,” she says. “But my favorite part of being involved with RapidDraft is the on-camera work I get to do. I am the host of ‘RDTV,’ which consists of hosting the ‘How to Play’ videos, video blogging, hosting a radio show and writing.”
(World Fantasy Games also owns this site.)