POMONA, Calif. - Cal Poly Pomona alum Violet Palmer broke a major glass ceiling in sports in 1997 when she became the first woman to officiate in the NBA, as well as the first female official in any major U.S. professional sport.
Recently, Palmer was featured by
MAKERS.com, a dynamic digital platform developed by AOL, showcasing hundreds of compelling stories from women of today and tomorrow. This historic video initiative features exclusive access to trailblazing women – both known and unknown.
While her entrance into the NBA drew the rancor of several players and coaches, Palmer's performance and professionalism quickly won over even her most vitriolic opponents. Fifteen years later, she's a league veteran with a growing number of playoff games under her belt.
Palmer grew up in a sports-loving family in the Compton section of Los Angeles. Her basketball career began at Compton High, where she was a star point guard. She attended Cal Poly Pomona on a sports scholarship and helped lead her team to two NCAA Division II national championships in 1985 and 1986. After college, she worked as a recreation director for the city of Los Angeles and began refereeing on the side, starting with high school girls' games and working her way up to the NCAA women's Division I.
Palmer spent nine seasons as one of the top women's collegiate basketball officials. She officiated five NCAA Women's Final Fours and two Women's National Championship games during her tenure. She was recruited to the NBA's referee training program in 1995 and began officiating NBA pre-season and exhibition games before getting her first shot the regular season in 1997. In 2006, she became the first woman to officiate an NBA playoff game, an assignment reserved for the top-performing referees, and in 2009, she officiated in the NBA finals.
To read more about Palmer, be sure to check out the recent article,
"Violet Palmer is just another NBA official and that's a good thing" by
Ben Bolch of the L.A. Times.
Information in this release courtesy of MAKERS.com.
