New York Liberty Names Carol Blazejowski As President And General Manager
February 14, 2008 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
New York Liberty News Release
NEW YORK, N.Y. [February 14, 2008] - The New York Liberty announced today that Basketball Hall-of-Famer Carol "Blaze" Blazejowski has been named president and general manager of the team. The announcement was made by Steve Mills, president and chief operating officer, MSG Sports.
"We are pleased to congratulate Carol Blazejowski on her promotion to president and general manager of the New York Liberty," Mr. Mills said. "Over the last eleven years, Blaze has excelled at combining her business acumen with deep knowledge and unrelenting passion for the game. We believe that she is the right person to continue leading this team into the future and to achieve our only goal - delivering a championship-caliber team to Liberty fans."
Blaze has led the Liberty for 11 years and during that time the team has won three Eastern Conference Championships and made appearances in four WNBA Finals. In addition to assembling the team on the court, Blaze is responsible for overseeing the team's marketing and business efforts. Under Blaze's guidance, the Liberty successfully hosted the inaugural WNBA All-Star Game held at Madison Square Garden in 1999, and again in 2003 and 2006, and the historic Game at Radio City Music Hall in 2004.
Blaze's professional career includes a 10-year run with adidas (1980-90), where she developed and implemented marketing initiatives for women's sports programs. She then served in the NBA league office as Director of Licensing (1990-95) and Director of Women's Basketball Programs (1995-96). Blaze was named the newly formed WNBA's Director of Basketball Development before joining the Liberty as vice president and general manager on January 7, 1997. She was promoted to senior vice president and general manager in 2000.
During her playing career, Blazejowski earned Kodak All-American honors (1976, 1977, 1978) at Montclair State and was the first winner of the Margaret Wade Trophy as Women's College Player of the Year (1977-78). Blaze's on-court heroics earned her enshrinement into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1994, an honor she currently shares with only 20 other women. In 1999, she was also inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, along with 26 other pioneers of the women's game.
On September 18, 2003, Blaze reached yet another milestone when she was inducted into the Madison Square Garden Walk of Fame for her 52-point effort against Queens College on March 6, 1977 - which still stands as the men's and women's collegiate scoring record in the current Madison Square Garden.
The New York Liberty basketball team, in its twelfth year of operation with the 2008 season, is a part of Madison Square Garden, L.P., owned by Cablevision Systems Corporation, and also includes the New York Knicks (NBA); the New York Rangers (NHL); the Hartford Wolf Pack (American Hockey League); MSG Entertainment, which includes concerts and events at Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden, The WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden, and the Beacon Theatre; MSG Media, which is comprised of MSG and FSN New York; fuse, the music television network; and the Madison Square Garden arena complex, located in the heart of the New York metropolitan area.
Women's National Basketball Association Stories from February 14, 2008
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- New York Liberty Names Carol Blazejowski As President And General Manager - New York Liberty
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