2005 Inductee, Carol Blazejowski

Carol Blazejowski
Basketball Superstar and General Manager of the N.Y. Liberty

Carol Blazejowski, presently the senior vice president and general manager of the New York Liberty basketball team, is one of the top players in the history of women’s basketball. Her performances at both the collegiate and the professional levels were recognized in 1994, with her induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, and in 1999, when she was inducted into the inaugural Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tennessee.

“The Blaze,” as she is still known to fans, remains the all-time leading scorer in women’s collegiate basketball with 3,199 points in four seasons at Montclair State University. In a 1977 game against Queens College, Ms. Blazejowski scored 52 points, the all-time single game collegiate scoring record that still stands for both men and women at Madison Square Garden.

After college, Ms. Blazejowski was the captain of the 1980 United States Olympic team. In October of that same year, she began her professional career with the New Jersey Gems. She later worked for Adidas and the national Basketball Association (NBA) before joining management in the Liberty front office in January 1977.

Other career highlights include gold medals at the World University Games and the World Championships, both in 1979; silver medallist in the 1979 Pan American Games, induction into the Sports Hall of Fame of New Jersey in 1995, the New Jersey Sports Writers’Association Hall of Fame in 1993, and the New York Sports Hall of Fame in 1993.

Ms. Blazejowski has lived in Nutley with her family for a number of years.