The NBA has been around for 95 years, and in all of those 95 years, three full-time official female referees have been hired. The first one being an African-American woman-Violet Palmer.
The first game that Palmer describes, she says, "It was literally a blur...I was scared out of my wits." But, who wouldn't be terrified when the media, public, the players, and literally the whole word was watching you, according to Palmer, "Everybody was waiting for me to fall on my face."
Violet Palmer reffed hundreds of games for various levels before she was officially hired in 1997, and her first game was on October 31, 1997. However, she did get asked to ref the NCAA's Division I, men's tournament in 1996, until that offer was later withdrawn because members of the NCAA did not like the idea of a woman reffing a male game.
Palmer has paved the path for more female refs to start joining and becoming NBA officials. However, even with that historical moment on October 31, 1997, she is still reffing, but with only one other ref- Lauren Holtkamp, who was hired in 2014. Holtkamp even tells USA TODAY sports when she is hired for the NBA. "Part of the satisfaction of earning this opportunity has to do with the fact that I've been able to stay committed to the work and put the work first and trust the system and that's what matters," Holtkamp told USA TODAY Sports. "It doesn't matter who is doing the work as long as the work is high quality. There is a great deal of satisfaction in that.
Two out of seventy-nine refs this 2015 season are female officials.
The first game that Palmer describes, she says, "It was literally a blur...I was scared out of my wits." But, who wouldn't be terrified when the media, public, the players, and literally the whole word was watching you, according to Palmer, "Everybody was waiting for me to fall on my face."
Violet Palmer reffed hundreds of games for various levels before she was officially hired in 1997, and her first game was on October 31, 1997. However, she did get asked to ref the NCAA's Division I, men's tournament in 1996, until that offer was later withdrawn because members of the NCAA did not like the idea of a woman reffing a male game.
Palmer has paved the path for more female refs to start joining and becoming NBA officials. However, even with that historical moment on October 31, 1997, she is still reffing, but with only one other ref- Lauren Holtkamp, who was hired in 2014. Holtkamp even tells USA TODAY sports when she is hired for the NBA. "Part of the satisfaction of earning this opportunity has to do with the fact that I've been able to stay committed to the work and put the work first and trust the system and that's what matters," Holtkamp told USA TODAY Sports. "It doesn't matter who is doing the work as long as the work is high quality. There is a great deal of satisfaction in that.
Two out of seventy-nine refs this 2015 season are female officials.