Violet Palmer Position: Coordinator of Women's Basketball Officials

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, Pacific-10 Conference, Western Athletic Conference, Big Sky Conference and Big West Conference.

"We are thrilled to add Violet Palmer to the West Coast Conference team," Zaninovich said. "Violet has succeeded at every possible level as an official, and brings a tremendous amount of leadership and experience to this position. We are confident that her passion for officiating will enhance our program, and help us train, educate and develop some of the top officials in the nation."

Palmer will be 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 will also supervise, train, mentor and evaluate WCC officials and work with the conference office on an officiating policy and procedures manual.