General | 3/21/2018 7:16:00 PM

Montclair, NJ - A lifelong journey in the sport she loves has resulted in the ultimate honor for Montclair State University alumna Rose Marie Battaglia '51, '66 MA.
 
The women's basketball pioneer and decorated coach has been inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2018, joining fellow Montclair State alumna Carol Blazejowski '78 among the ranks of Women's Basketball Hall of Famers.
 
Battaglia, 89, will join former University of Tennessee and WNBA star Chamique Holdsclaw, two-time Olympic gold medalist and WNBA star Tina Thompson, University of Colorado head coach Ceal Barry, University of Tennessee and Louisiana State University assistant coach Mickie DeMoss, three-time Olympic gold medalist and WNBA star Katie Smith and longtime University of Connecticut assistant coach Chris Dailey as members of the Class of 2018. The induction ceremony will take place on June 9 at the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville.  
 
"Being inducted into the Hall of Fame is the culmination of the journey," says Battaglia. "It's something every coach dreams of, so it's an honor to be a part of it."
 
Falling in love with the game in grade school, Battaglia played as a member of the women's team at the Panzer School of Physical Education, which later merged with Montclair State to form Montclair State Teachers College in 1958. Learning the women's game in its infancy – when it featured only a 10-game schedule, shorter game times and no overtime periods – Battaglia became a lifelong student of the game, attending men's basketball camps and practices throughout her career and helping to consistently evolve the sport on the women's side.
 
"There's an old saying that goes, 'If you share it, you actually still have it. If you keep it, you've lost it.' So, it's always been important to me to not only keep learning from others throughout my life, but to also share what I've learned with other people. Hopefully that has helped the players and coaches I've been able to interact with along the way," says Battaglia.
 
Beginning her coaching career at Paramus Catholic High School in New Jersey, Battaglia also coached at Bergen Community College – which was across the street from the high school's campus – simultaneously for most of her tenure, even sleeping on beds provided by the nuns at Paramus Catholic on nights when she had back-to-back practices. Along the way, she also earned her master's degree in physical education from Montclair State in 1966 and her PhD in the same area from the University of Utah in 1976.
 
She concluded her high school and college coaching career with nearly 1,000 combined victories, including 702 victories at the college level at both Bergen Community College and Iona College. Her 274 victories at the high school level included back-to-back state championships in the 1970's, with teams that included Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer and two-time Olympic gold medalist Anne Donovan. Battaglia has received some of the sport's highest honors during her legendary career, including induction into the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Hall of Fame and the WBCA Jostens-Berenson Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998.
 
Although she officially retired from coaching in 1989, Battaglia – who still describes herself as a "hoops junkie" –  is still working with coaches and players at all levels and passing along the lessons the game has taught her. Those players even include a 55 and Over senior team that competed in the Senior Games in Birmingham, Alabama, in June of 2017, of which she was the head coach.
 
"On the court, my biggest philosophy has always been that players need to learn the basics of the game and be fundamentally sound," she says. "But basketball can teach you so many other important life lessons. The value of being part of a team, and of working together to accomplish something. To have had those lessons make enough of an impact for me to be part of the Hall of Fame is more than I could have ever dreamed of."
 
For more information on the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, visit www.wbhof.com.