Violet Renice Palmer (born July 20, 1964) is a retired American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

referee in the NBA and WNBA and the first female official to reach the highest competitive tier in any major U.S. professional sports league. She also earned recognition as a member of two

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

women's championship basketball teams. Palmer 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 New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

. In the NBA, Palmer wore uniform number 12. She retired in 2016.

Biography

A native of Compton, California, Palmer grew up in the same neighborhood where Serena and

Venus Williams Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American professional tennis player. A former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles, Williams has won seven Grand Slam singles titles, five at Wimbledon and two at the US Open. She is ...

lived as small children. She attended college at

Cal Poly Pomona California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona, CPP, or Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo in San Luis Obispo. See the ''name'' section of this article for more infor ...

, where she played point guard on the 1985 and 1986 NCAA Division II women's championship teams. In 2001, Palmer established Violet Palmer's Official Camp to train youths in the art of officiating games. The camp runs annually from July 9 to July 11. In 2010, Palmer was part of a family team on the game show ''

Family Feud ''Family Feud'' is an American television game show created by Mark Goodson. It features two families who compete to name the most popular answers to survey questions in order to win cash and prizes. The show has had three separate runs, th ...

''. In 2022, Palmer received an honorary doctorate of science from her alma mater, Cal Poly Pomona.

Officiating career

Palmer has officiated hundreds of NBA and WNBA games. 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, Palmer and Dee Kantner were signed by the NBA to together become the first top-level female officials in any major U.S. professional sport. On October 31, 1997, Palmer made history when she officiated the NBA season opener between the

Vancouver Grizzlies The Vancouver Grizzlies were a Canadian professional basketball team based in Vancouver. They were part of the Midwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team was established in 1995, along w ...

and the Dallas Mavericks, in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada. As a

woman A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

, Palmer's achievement was received with mixed feelings. While magazines such as ''

Ebony Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also contains the persimmons. Unlike most woods, ebony is dense enough to sink in water. It is finely textured and has a mirror finish when ...

'' and ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...

'' generally celebrated her achievement, some NBA players were critical. Charles Barkley: "Violet, I was wrong about you. I apologize. You're all right with me." Former basketball player Dennis Scott, who played for the Phoenix Suns at the time, also 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 was one of three NBA referees who officiated the brawl-marred December 16, 2006, game between the Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks. The officiating crew, which also consisted of

Dick Bavetta Richard W. Bavetta (born December 10, 1939) is an American retired professional basketball referee for the National Basketball Association (NBA). Since starting in 1975, he had never missed an assigned game and holds the league record for most off ...

and Robbie Robinson, ejected all 10 players who were on the court when the brawl broke out. On May 28, 2009, Palmer was hired as coordinator of women's basketball officials for the West Coast Conference. On February 16, 2014, Palmer became the first female to officiate an

All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or d ...

in any of the four major United States sports. On July 6, 2015, Palmer was named coordinator of women's basketball officials for the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Texas. Due to mos ...

. On September 22, 2016, Palmer retired from on-court duties with the NBA due to knee issues. Afterward, she began work as a manager in the NBA's referee operations department. At the time of her retirement, she had refereed 919 NBA games. On June 20, 2022, Palmer was hired as coordinator of women's basketball officials for the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

Personal life

Palmer is an out lesbian. In July 2014, she announced plans to marry her girlfriend of 20 years, celebrity hair stylist Tanya Stine.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Violet 1964 births African-American sports officials Cal Poly Pomona Broncos women's basketball players Lesbian sportswomen African-American LGBT people American LGBT sportspeople Living people National Basketball Association referees Sportspeople from Compton, California Continental Basketball Association referees Women basketball referees LGBT people from California American women referees and umpires LGBT basketball players 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people