Hall of Fame
HIGHLIGHTS | Born in the Bronx, Olisa Small was raised in Maplewood, New Jersey. She started her basketball career in the 9th grade at Columbia High School in 1989. Small credits her high school basketball coach and mentor, Johanna Wright, with her picking up a basketball for the very first time. What she learned under Coach Wright in high school set the stage for Small to receive a full basketball and volleyball scholarship to play at Bloomfield College. She played both sports with distinction from 1994-1998, receiving many honors. In basketball, she was recognized for scoring over 1000 points and snagging more than 1000 rebounds.
TODAY | After graduating from Bloomfield in 1998, Small resided in Newark, New Jersey, and was hired as a human resources assistant for Continental Airlines, kicking off a successful lifetime career in human resources. After nearly 25 years of living and working in Newark, in March 2022, Small moved to Florida to take a position as human resources manager for Republic Services, a sanitation services company in Fort Lauderdale.
She is the proud mother of an 18-year-old daughter, Gabriella, from a previous marriage, and is newly engaged to be married next year.
