Violet Palmer is best known for becoming the first woman to officiate a major U.S. professional sport at the highest level when she made her NBA debut on October 31, 1997. She has spent the past 12 seasons in the NBA, and has officiated four playoff games and over 700 regular season games.
Prior to working in the CBA, WNBA and NBA, Palmer was one of the top women's collegiate basketball officials for nine seasons. She worked five NCAA Women's Final Fours and two Women's National Championship games during her tenure as an official for the West Coast Conference, Pac-12Â Conference, Western Athletic Conference, Big Sky Conference and Big West Conference.
Palmer is responsible for recruiting officials, assigning officials for exhibition, conference and non-conference games hosted by WCC institutions, and present recommendations of officials for assignment in the WCC and NCAA tournaments. She also supervises, trains, mentors and evaluates WCC officials and works with the conference office on an officiating policy and procedures manual.