First Woman Referee Gets Equal Treatment

Acting businesslike and calm, except perhaps for some authoritative gum chewing, Violet Palmer made professional sports history Friday night by becoming the first woman to officiate an NBA game.

Referee No. 66 walked onto the court at GM Place 15 minutes before tipoff between the Dallas Mavericks and Vancouver Grizzlies, the music thumping so loudly on the public address system that she couldn’t have heard the crowd’s reaction had there been one.

When her name was announced just before tipoff, there was no response from the crowd.

Hardly anyone paid much attention to the fact that the referee with the headband holding back her collar-length hair was a woman.

Before long, the fans were booing her just as they would anyone else in stripes.

The first whistle blown by a woman in an NBA game came at the 9:52 mark of the first quarter when Palmer ruled that the Grizzlies had knocked the ball out of bounds after a rebound under the Dallas basket. The crowd booed, giving her an appropriate welcome into the NBA refereeing community.

The Mavericks won, 90-88.