Roberta Robinson Olejasz

(Class of 1990)

Roberta Robinson Olejasz scored 996 points in just two years as a standout girls’ basketball player at Wheeling Central Catholic High School. Despite being described as the ultimate team player and leader by her coaches, she averaged 19.2 points, 10.7 rebounds and two blocks per game on Lady Maroon Knights teams that achieved a combined sparkling 45-4 record  During her junior season, Central Catholic advanced to the finals of the West Virginia Class AA state tournament. In what was the school’s first state SSAC tournament appearance in girls’ basketball, the Lady Maroon Knights had all five starters foul out as it dropped a disappointing overtime decision to Hinton High School in the title game. Her senior year saw Central Catholic eliminated by host St. Marys in the Region One championship game.

  Twice she earned first team honors on the West Virginia Class AA all-state team and was designated as the squad’s captain her senior year. Robinson-Olejasz was a two-time honoree on the all-Ohio Valley Athletic Conference first unit and after her senior year she was named the bi-state league’s player of the year over another area great Sylvia Crawley of Steubenville High School.

 An All-American high school player, Robinson-Olejasz was a recipient of a Division I scholarship to Virginia Commonwealth University where she played one season before sustaining a shoulder injury that brought her playing career to an end.

  She turned to coaching after graduating from VCU and returned to her high school Alma mater where she coached for two years on the Lady Maroon Knights’ girls’ basketball staff. Robinson-Olejasz then became involved in coaching AAU basketball and she helped set up an AAU program with the West Virginia Elite. She coached 11-u boys and 13-u girls teams and still serves on the Board of Directors of the non-profit WV Elite Program.