On This Day: October 31, 1997 — Violet Palmer Becomes the NBA’s First Woman Referee
On October 31, 1997, Violet Palmer walked onto the floor at Vancouver’s General Motors Place for the NBA season opener between the Grizzlies and the Dallas Mavericks, and nine minutes and fifty-two seconds into the first quarter she blew her whistle on an out-of-bounds call against Vancouver. It was a routine call in an otherwise…