Athletes

Carol Blazejowski is the senior vice president and general manager for the Women's National Basketball Association's (WNBA) New York Liberty. During the development stage of the WNBA, Blazejowski was named director of basketball development and was promoted to her current position in 2000. Blazejowski has helped lead the New York Liberty to three out of four WNBA championship games.

As a player, she signed with the New Jersey Gems professional women's basketball team in 1981 and led the league in scoring with 29.6 points per game, winning the Most Valuable Player title that same year. After playing on the 1979 U.S. basketball team that won a silver medal at the Pan American Games and a gold medal at the World Championships, Blazejowski was selected as captain of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team, however she did not get to compete due to a U.S. boycott of the Olympic Games.

A three-time Kodak All-American (1978, 1977, 1976) at Montclair State College, she won the first annual Wade Trophy as the best collegiate women's basketball player in 1978. Blazejowski holds the all-time collegiate scoring record at Madison Square Garden, scoring 52 points in a 1977 game. Considered one of the pioneers of women's baskball, Blazejowski was among the class of inaugural inductees into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999 when it first opened. She was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1994 and is one of 13 other women who hold this honor.

Blazejowski has been an active member and spokesperson for the Women's Sports Foundation since its inception in 1974. (10/01)