Sparkle Lee, a former NYPD cop, also worked the boxing beat

Sparkle Lee, a professional boxing referee and former NYPD police officer, is too modest to think of herself as a trailblazer, but her many accomplishments speak for themselves. 

Lee began her officiating career in the amateurs in the 1980s, toiling in anonymity in small venues throughout the New York metropolitan area.  

Because she also had a fulfilling job as a police officer with the NYPD, where she served from 1987 to 2007, in the early days her friends and family often asked her why she worked so hard in a field that at the time was unwelcoming to women.  

“I was doing what I loved, and I always had a lot of faith,” said Lee, who is one of 16 children born in Harlem. “I loved the sport, and I always believed in it, so I never thought of quitting. Not even once.”  

Lee’s eternal optimism and perpetually positive demeanor served her well then and continues to do so today. With early mentors like former New York State Athletic Commissioner Ron Scott Stevens, Lee proved her mettle as an amateur referee.  

She was the first woman ever to referee a NYC Golden Gloves bout, the first female appointed to the NYS Athletic Commission, and the first female referee to be licensed in both New York and New Jersey.  

Since graduating to the professional ranks, the 64-year-old Lee has worked as a judge and has also been the third person in the ring for over 260 bouts. Although she has traveled the globe, refereeing fights featuring such championship-caliber fighters as Terence Crawford, Sergey Kovalev, Shakur Stevenson, Amanda Serrano and Claressa Shields, she is as comfortable on the big stage as she is at a small club show.  

For those accomplishments, she was among the luminaries inducted into the New York State Boxing Hall of Fame at an Sept. 15 extravaganza at Russo’s on the Bay catering hall in Queens.   

From school gyms to MSG

Over the years Lee has performed her duties in venues ranging from high school gyms, catering halls and restaurants to such iconic locations as Yankee Stadium, Madison Square Garden and the Barclays Center in New York, as well as Atlantic City casinos and stadiums in Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Canada, Ireland, Monaco, Norway, China, Chile, Denmark, Mexico and South Africa.  

There have been no controversies surrounding her officiating and her hard-earned and well-deserved stellar reputation is rooted in the fact that she never forgets what is of paramount importance when officiating a fight at any level.  

“If anybody’s getting hit too much and they’re not fighting back, the fight is over,” Lee told the the Daily News. “It’s about them, it’s not about me. I stay invisible. I’m  just there to make sure everything is in place and that everyone gets home to their families.” 

She recalls the time in November 2007 when she was in Atlantic City expecting to be assigned to a few undercard bouts on an HBO card. When Lee saw her name penciled in for a televised bout featuring future champion Abner Mares, she was ecstatic and immediately called her children to share the news.  

“It was great to referee a fight on HBO,” said Lee. “But no matter where you are working, you have to always remember that nothing is more important than the health and safety of the fighters.”  

Bruce Silverglade, the longtime owner of Brooklyn’s fabled Gleason’s Gym, has known Lee since she was a youngster when he ran the amateur boxing program in New York. He believed in Lee from the get-go, gave her some early assignments, and watched her excel in every subsequent endeavor.   

“She went on to eventually run the amateur program herself, and was in charge of all the New York officials,” said Silverglade. “She took no nonsense and has done a great job in everything she’s been associated with in boxing. As a referee she is in control, and you hardly notice her. That is the sign of a good official.” 

 As a police officer, Lee was equally pragmatic and good at her job. She recalls being often asked by members of the public why she was so nice.  

 “Why not?” was her standard response. “I can’t be nasty to you because God forbid someone in my family is locked up, I wouldn’t want a cop to be nasty to them. I learned early in life to always treat people with respect, the way you would want yourself or a family member to be treated by others.”  

Robert Mladinich is a retired NYPD detective and author or co-author of four true crime books. He was inducted into the NYS Boxing Hall of Fame as a journalist in 2023.