NORTH ROYALTON, Ohio — Northeast Ohio is jam-packed with college basketball fans this weekend. For one major player at the NCAA, it’s a homecoming. Lynn Holzman is the Vice President of Women’s Basketball at the NCAA. She also happens to be a North Royalton native. News 5 anchor Rob Powers spoke with her in late February. She told him she believed in the worldwide responsibility of what she and her team were looking to pull off here.
“I expect everyone that comes in for their expectations to be, like completely blown out of the water,” she said. The pressure may be a little higher thanks to her roots here. Holzman was a three-sport star at North Royalton High School.
“If I go to North Royalton High School am I going to see your name on the plaques as I walk down the hall?” Powers asked her. She laughed, and answered yes, “You would.”
And he did. Rob’s next stop was the high school itself, where he met Holzman’s mother Gail, and her brother, Ro. He walked the halls with the family and found there were in fact, many plaques bearing the Holzman name. She was one of the better athletes to walk those halls, a record holder, all-star, all-state.
“You could tell when Lynn was young, she was in T-ball and hitting home runs,” Gail told Rob. “The coaches would just shake their heads.”
Ron Holzman said plenty of people have realized the family connection, and they know Lynn Holzman is “a pretty big deal,” he said. “You want to sit up straighter… a lot of pride comes out.”
Her family said they always knew she’d be involved in sports. While Lynn didn’t have the final say in bringing the Women’s Final Four to Cleveland, that gets voted on by a committee, she did hold out hope.
“You can’t help but have that in your gut,” she said. It’s an accomplishment that’s only amplifying her family's pride.
“Hopefully it’s a springboard for them to continue and keep growing the sport,” Ron Holzman said. “She’s doing a great job.”
The full-circle moment isn’t lost on Lynn Holzman either.
”It’s something that, I think as I get a little bit older now, I appreciate more than ever.”
