Wanda Szeremeta \u201980 didn\u2019t plan on earning her college degree at Montclair, but then Szeremeta can point to a lot of things in her life that didn\u2019t go as planned.<\/p>\n
Szeremeta had just completed two years of study \u2013 and college basketball \u2013 at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, when tragedy struck. Her parents and younger sister were in an auto accident. Sadly, her sister did not survive. Her parents were badly injured.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to come home to New Jersey,\u201d she says. \u201cDad was hospitalized for an extended time and I needed to care for my mom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the circumstances, Szeremeta\u2019s mother was determined to see her daughter make progress toward a college degree. \u201cIt made sense for me to find a local option,\u201d Szeremeta says, \u201cI wanted to be a teacher and I knew that Montclair was the <\/em>place in New Jersey to study teaching.\u201d<\/p>\n Szeremeta may have given up a basketball scholarship when she transferred to Montclair, but she had no intention of giving up the game. \u201cWhen I got to campus I headed straight for tryouts,\u201d she says with a laugh.<\/p>\n Little did she know that she was about to join her new teammates in making Montclair history. As a member of the 1977-78 Women\u2019s Basketball team, led by Head Coach Maureen Wendelken \u201961 \u201969 MA, Assistant Coach Charlie DiPaolo, and team Captain Carol (\u201cBlaze\u201d) Blazejowski \u201978, Szeremeta helped the Red Hawks reach the Final Four. After defeating Wayland Baptist 90-88 in the third-place contest the team fell to UCLA in the national semifinals.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was such a special team, and a special season,\u201d Szeremeta recalls. \u201cWe were putting Montclair on the map. We filled the stands and had statewide press at our games.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe were just kids from New Jersey and the surrounding areas who loved basketball and wanted to play,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd we were good. We started the season playing highly ranked teams, which gave us a taste of what we would have to do to get to the Final Four. We felt like pioneers.\u201d<\/p>\n Szeremeta\u2019s Montclair years were full. \u201cMy parents required a lot of care during my first year at the University, and I had a full course load as well as my basketball schedule,\u201d she says. The challenges increased when she was drafted as one of the original members of the New Jersey Gems, a Women\u2019s Professional Basketball League (WBL) team.<\/p>\n \u201cI hadn\u2019t yet finished my degree,\u201d she says. \u201cNow I had to balance studying with playing professionally!\u201d<\/p>\n Szeremeta completed her degree in physical education, became a credentialed teacher and continued as a player \u2013 and team captain \u2013 for the Gems. The WBL lasted only three seasons, but by now she was immersed in the world of women\u2019s basketball.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter the WBL, I coached a team in Venezuela, and then returned to the U.S. to coach collegiately and in the WNBA and to try my hand at being an agent,\u201d she says. \u201cI also refereed for 20 years, including 10 NCAA tournaments.\u201d<\/p>\n More than 20 years after graduating from Montclair, Szeremeta returned to her original plan to teach. \u201cAfter years of traveling I decided it was time to have some stability in my life,\u201d she says. \u201cI applied to the Los Angeles Unified School District and was hired on the spot. I worked in South\/Central LA as a teacher and athletic director. It was wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n After a successful teaching career, Szeremeta retired \u2013 but she didn\u2019t stay on the sidelines for long. After a 20-year career officiating Division I basketball, \u201cAn opportunity came up to serve as the West Coast Regional Advisor for the NCAA Women\u2019s Basketball Program,\u201d she says. \u201cI travel the country observing and screening officials for the tournaments.\u201d<\/p>\n So much time on the road for the NCAA makes it difficult for Szeremeta to visit her alma mater, but she keeps up with Red Hawk news, following the Women\u2019s Basketball team in particular. \u201cIt has always been a successful program and the players are great,\u201d she notes.<\/p>\n In 2022, the 1977-78 Montclair Women\u2019s Basketball team was among the first to be inducted into a new New Jersey Basketball Hall of Honor. The Hall of Honor was the brainchild of Montclair alumnus and one-time basketball coach Fred Hill, Jr. \u201981, as a way to recognize New Jersey\u2019s players, coaches and fans.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was so exciting and such an honor,\u201d Szeremeta says of the Hall of Honor recognition. \u201cBeing involved with the Montclair Women\u2019s Basketball team made me the woman I am today.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt isn\u2019t easy being a student athlete,\u201d she observes. \u201cThat\u2019s why it is so important for student athletes to embrace each day because these experiences are formative. What you experience, and what you learn, will stay with you for the rest of your life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As a member of the 1977-78 Montclair Women\u2019s Basketball team, Wanda Szeremeta \u201980 helped lead the Red Hawks to the Final Four.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":273,"featured_media":211063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-211074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-77_alumni-spotlight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/273"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211074"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":211075,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211074\/revisions\/211075"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}