Violet Palmer

Violet Palmer (born July 20, 1964 in Lynwood, California) is an NBA and WNBA basketball referee who toppled gender barriers to become the first female official to reach the highest competitive tier in a major U.S. professional sport. She also earned recognition as a member of two NCAA Division II women's championship basketball teams. She was the first woman to officiate an NBA playoff game when she did so in the April 25, 2006 match between the Indiana Pacers and New Jersey Nets. In the NBA, Palmer wears uniform number 12.

Biography

A native of Compton, California, Palmer grew up in the same neighborhood where Serena and Venus Williams lived as small children. She attended college at Cal Poly Pomona [cite web | title=Cal Poly Pomona | url=http://www.csumentor.edu/campustour/undergraduate/1/Cal_Poly_Pomona/Cal_Poly_Pomona5.html|format=HTML| work= CSU Mentor | accessdate=2008-09-12] , where she played the role of point guard on the 1985 and 1986 NCAA Division II women's championship teams.

After years of refereeing at various levels, including NBA pre-season and exhibition games, Palmer was offered an opportunity to officiate the NCAA Division I men's tournament in 1996. She accepted, but the offer was later retracted when NCAA members balked at the idea of having a female referee male players.

In 1997, however, Palmer and Dee Kantner were signed by the NBA to together become the first top-level female referees in any major U.S. professional sport. On October 31, 1997, Palmer made history when she and Kantner officiated the NBA season opener between the Vancouver Grizzlies and the Dallas Mavericks, in British Columbia, Canada.

As a woman, Palmer's achievement was received with mixed feelings. While magazines such as "Ebony" and "Sports Illustrated" generally celebrated her achievement, some NBA players were critical. Former basketball player Dennis Scott, who played for the Phoenix Suns at the time, expressed concern at having females referee male players. Scott, in particular, worried that female referees would feel verbally or physically abused. However, Palmer has been officiating without any major gender issues so far.

Palmer has officiated hundreds of NBA games, as well as others in the WNBA. In 2001, she established "Violet Palmer's Official Camp" to train youths in the art of refereeing. The camp runs annually from July 9 to July 11.

Palmer has been the frequent target of sports critics, including ESPN columnist Bill Simmons who sharply complained about her officiating in various entries in his "More Cowbell" blog during 2004 and 2005; she was named the worst referee in the league in the blog. Her integrity has never been seriously questioned, but her work as a game official has been criticized for its quality (i.e. complete lack of reason or consistency).

She was one of three NBA referees who officiated the brawl-marred December 19, 2006 game between the Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks. The officiating crew, which also consisted of Dick Bavetta and Robbie Robinson, ejected all 10 players who were on the court when the brawl broke out.

References

ources

* [http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/2005-11-07-palmer_x.htm "NBA's only female ref 'doesn't back down"']
* [http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/ESPNSports/story?id=1870815&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312 "First Woman Set to Ref NBA Playoff Game"]
* [http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/articles/2006/04/25/referee_violet_palmer_makes_nba_history/ "Referee Violet Palmer makes NBA history"]
* [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4408848/ "Sports: Out of Bounds"]
* [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/nba/news/1999/04/30/female_ref/ "NBA's two female officials still crossing barriers"]