As part of the celebration of Officials' Appreciation Week, Big West Women’s Basketball Coordinator of Officials Violet Palmer sat down with Chloe Clark to reflect on a remarkable career, to date. Palmer shared some of the steps in the journey from Compton to Cal Poly Pomona as a Division II national champion. Trading playing shoes and layup lines for the Broncos for the whistle and running the baselines on professional courts around the country, Palmer reached the pinnacle of the profession and is now training others to follow in those footsteps. 

Palmer is distinguished as the first female to officiate at the highest level of any major U.S. professional sports league and has patrolled courts in some of the highest-profile settings, earning 2023’s Gold Whistle Award, presented by the National Association of Sports Officials (NASO), the highest honor in officiating. Palmer is also a member of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2024, encompassing a full life in basketball from player to official to administrator.  

When Palmer thinks about her career, she doesn’t immediately reach for the words many others use to describe her. “You know, wow, the trailblazer and pioneer and all that stuff - it's great,” she said. “But I think when I really look at myself, I look at myself as someone who has had a phenomenal journey and being able to officiate at every single level.” 

  

The Big West Coordinator of Officials since 2022, Palmer now spends days shaping the next generation of referees with the same passion and precision that defined more than two decades on the court.  

  

“Now having an opportunity to continue my career, not only did I have it when I was on the floor, but I now I'm able to do it in an administrative level,” she said. “Just being a true referee who just loved officiating. I love watching my referees. I love being a mentor. I love being a leader. I love, just watching them grow and develop.” 

  

For Palmer, the transition from the hardwood to the front of the classroom was less a retirement and more an evolution. 

  

“I had an amazing career. It seems such a waste to now just retire and sit back and do nothing,” Palmer said. “I just felt like, you know what, I had so many, so many experiences and so much to offer my staff that I'm exactly where I should be. This is what I should be doing.” 

  

Palmer has found joy in the work that comes after the whistle— mentoring, teaching and leading referees at every stage of their careers. “Having an opportunity now to train and develop, and be the leader of some phenomenal young referees is a dream come true for me,” Palmer said.  

  

Long before she was guiding others, Palmer made history as the first woman to referee an NBA game.  

  

“Oh wow. 1997, it was October 31st, 1997, one of the key things that I remember was it was a whirlwind. It was moving. Everything was moving fast,” she recalled. 

  

Even with years of preparation behind, the moment was overwhelming. “I know that I had prepared myself. I knew that I was ready to get hired. I knew that I had deserved to get hired. I knew that I was at the top of my class, but still not knowing the impact that I would have in officiating because that wasn't in the forefront,” Palmer said. “It was more developing, learning the craft, learning the difference between being a pro referee and a collegiate referee.” 

  

Once she settled into the arena, everything clicked. 

  

“I was scared out of my wits. I'll be honest, to tell you the truth,” Palmer remembered. “But I can say that as soon as, you know, after all the interviews, the hoopla, once I got to the arena, got into my locker room, started putting on my uniform, I could relax and it was just, OK, now it's time to go show the world that you have trained, that you have developed, that you have earned your spot. For this moment.” 

  

The nerves disappeared as soon as the game began. “As soon as that ball went up, I was just another referee. All the other stuff went out the window. It was another basketball game, like I had been refereeing for years,” she said. “It was just at a higher level, and I just knew that I would continue to develop, study, get better, you know, that I could just go out and do my job.” 

  

Palmer’s impact stretched far beyond that single night. “Did so well that now we have nine women in the NBA. I think that's incredible because obviously when I started, everybody said, oh, you know what, after you and Dee [Kantner] get hired and you guys are gone, it's going to be it,” she said. “I was able to sustain myself for, I think I was in the league about 10 or 11 years by myself before they hired another woman into the NBA.” 

  

Palmer takes pride in making gender a non-issue in officiating. “I think I made the playing field pretty even and pretty comfortable for to just kind of make it normal where it wasn't a big deal to have a woman on a game,” Palmer said. “It's not just If you're a female, if you're a male, it's all about being a good referee. It's all about working hard, being able to do the job, and I think that's what I'm most proud of is that I showed the world that it has nothing to do with your gender. It's about how talented you are, how hard you work, and that you study, and that you're good at your craft. Here's the final product.” 

  

Palmer’s longevity at every level of the sport, from the NCAA, CBA and WNBA and with more than 900 NBA games officiated was built on discipline. “I learned very quickly. I've always been a hard worker,” she said. “When I was a player [at Cal Poly Pomona], I had no problem with practice. I was always that one that would go to practice, come home, go outside and practice a little more.” 

  

That work ethic came from home. “My dad was such a hard worker. My father worked six days a week. I literally thought everybody worked six days a week when I was a kid because that's just what I saw,” she said. 

  

In the NBA, preparation became everything. “Given the opportunity and now making it into the NBA, it was about preparation, dedication, hard work,” Palmer said. “I had the confidence and I just knew that. I had done the job and I wanted people to understand and know that obviously I'm a woman. You could physically see that, but I wanted people to look at me and just look at the job I was doing.” 

  

She built her reputation on consistency and commitment. “So I personally worked really, really hard to be the best referee I could stay in shape, understand the rules, study, watch video,” Palmer said. “All the things that I'm trying my best now to teach my staff right now.” 

  

The message to her officiating team is clear. “I say, you have to study, you have to train, you have to self critique, you have to just understand the game, it never stops,” she said. “Every single game, you can learn something. Every single game, you have to go back and watch your mistakes and see what you can do better.” 

  

For Palmer, the mark of a great official is recall. “Being a good official is all about recall,” she said. “You do your best to continue to watch plays, to watch your decisions, to understand why you made this decision at this point in time, and you self-critique yourself so that you store all these things in the back of your head so that when that opportunity again presents itself when you're out on the floor, you just automatically know what to do.” 

  

Preparation, she believes, is what builds instinct and confidence. “You don't have to think about it, your instincts, your intuition, your confidence, your understanding of the craft of officiating, understanding of the game, understanding the decisions that you have to make at particular times,” Palmer said. “But all of that comes from preparation, practice, studying.” 

  

That same philosophy guides her leadership. “I tell them all the time, it's like a running joke in front of the room. I go, one thing you guys have to understand, you will never outwork me. Never, she said. "Because I understand that preparation will just give you good habits, and when you're in particular situations and games, you're going to be able to just make a good decision.” 

  

Palmer’s greatest joy now comes from helping others reach their goals. She feels a responsibility to share what she’s learned at every step of the way.  

  

“I've been around some of the best referees in the country, Palmer said. "I think it would be a shame and sad for me to just now ride off into the sunset and do nothing. I feel like I have so much knowledge and information and motivation to give away.  

  

"I think that is my joy, to be able to give that to my staff, every single night, and it's one of the best feelings ever for me, just to watch them grow, to watch them develop.” 

  

Palmer is especially proud when her officials reach the sport’s biggest stages. “To see it come to fruition is just one of the most beautiful things. To go to the Final Four and sit in the stands and watch someone who I had mentored and trained and developed and to just see the final product,” she said. “To see how excited they are and how happy they are and how proud they are of themselves, is a joy. I think that's, that's literally my motivation.” 

  

Palmer is honest about the work required. “Not every referee can get to the Final Four. I want to be clear, that's a really, really hard feat to accomplish,” Palmer said. “However, there are other levels that you can get to, it just depends on the person. It depends on the individual. It depends on where they are in their career, there's so many different variables, but one thing I can tell them is that if they tell me where they want to get to and I know that they have the talent to do it, I can help them get there. I'll do my best to get them there, but they have to do the work.” 

  

Within The Big West, her expectations are high—by design.  

  

“The primary focus is for our referees to be held at a high level of accountability,” Palmer said. “Women's basketball is big right now, our referees have to maintain their professionalism. They have to understand how difficult our games are. They have to understand that our student-athletes deserve 100% every single night, that's the example. If you can't meet those criteria, you cannot be in The Big West, period.” 

  

For Palmer, the growth of women’s sports is personal. “I was that student-athlete when women just started kind of getting scholarships. I'm kind of telling my age, but it's OK,” she said. “You know, now looking at how the money is becoming more equal, how women now are able to get NIL money, how the women's game is on television just as much as the men, that is a joy to my heart because I was during that era where we didn't get those accolades, it was always lopsided.” 

  

She’s proud to be part of a generation that demanded more. “I think now for women who speak up, we're not sitting back saying, just give us some crumbs,” Palmer said. “Women now are like, We're good. We're talented. Our game is just as good, and we deserve every opportunity just like the men. To be a part of that now is incredible.” 

  

Her excitement for the sport is infectious. “If you're not excited about women's basketball today, You need to go do something else because it is so exciting,” Palmer said. “The women are so talented. We can see how good they are, how our game is good, and it's just so much fun to watch, that I don't know why anyone wouldn't want to be a women's basketball fan in today's world. That's just my opinion.” 

  

Palmer also wants fans to understand the human side of officiating. “There's not one referee that wakes up to go referee a game and want to screw it up. That's just not how we're wired, you know,” she said. “Fans have to understand that referees are people, referees are human. Referees make decisions in real time, split seconds.” 

  

She added, “No coach is perfect, no player is perfect, and no referee is perfect. We all go out every single night to try to do the best job we can and let the chips fall where they may, and I think fans just have to understand that we're talking about human beings.” 

  

Officials Appreciation Week is a small but meaningful gesture. “It means just giving us some nice recognition and some time for people to acknowledge that, you know what, you guys do a good job and we appreciate that,” Palmer said. “It's a great feel good, you know. It's nice.” 

  

When Palmer looks back, she hopes her legacy is measured not by games, but by relationships. “You know what, I hope that when this is all done, no one is talking about. The games that I worked, because they don't really matter, they're over, they're done,” she said. “I really hope that when this is done, people talk about how caring, how I love the game, how I love people, how I loved my referees, how I gave them 100%, or how I was an example of a professional, of someone who has the work ethic, someone who had the confidence to go out and just do the best job they could every single night.” 

  

For Palmer, it’s simple. “I want people to know that I cared,” she said. “That they were important and that I was able to help every single referee on my staff become a better person, a true professional, develop, get them where they, where they want, where they were trying to get to. That's my ultimate goal, that's what I would want people to think about me.”