Conway Liberman, Heather

As a young girl, Heather Liberman was introduced to basketball through her father, who coached her recreation team. By the time she entered Amity High School in Woodbridge, she was clearly one of the most talented players on the court and she helped lead her team to many great winning moments.

Heather set a school record of 723 rebounds in her two years as a varsity center for the Spartans. Heather was a dominating force in the Housatonic League and was truly unstoppable for most of her senior season. She tallied 862 career points on the varsity squad and in her senior year, she averaged 22 points and 17 rebounds a game. She set a school record with a Single Game High of 40 points and 29 rebounds versus Cheshire High School. In the Class LL State Championship, she scored the basket that sent the game into overtime and ended the game with 24 points, 15 rebounds, 5 blocked shots, and a state title. She was named MVP for the tournament. She was named to the All-Housatonic League, All-New Haven County Tap-Off Club, and the Class LL All-State Team in 1980. She participated and was one of the captains of the Connecticut Junior Olympic Team in New Orleans that year as well. By the time she graduated, she had earned a full scholarship to Duke University -- the first time such an offer had been made to a female athlete.

Heather was also a standout volleyball player at Amity High School and she helped lead her team to a 16-0 record her senior year. Her volleyball teams also won the Housatonic League titles in 1978 and 1979 and she was named to the All-Housatonic League for volleyball in 1979.

Heather attributes much of her success during her senior year to her coach, Ken Liberman, who later became her husband. They shared an appreciation for basketball as a true team sport involving athletic prowess, strategy, speed and endurance. Heather met some of her oldest and dearest friends while playing basketball.

After a year at Duke University, Heather transferred to George Washington University where her career was cut short due to a ruptured Achilles tendon. She co-founded the Trumbull Recreation Girls’ Basketball League and the Trumbull Travel Basketball program and she has enjoyed staying involved in the game as much as possible. Heather was inducted into the Tap-Off Club Hall of Fame in 2003 and the Amity Athletic Hall of Fame in 2009. She is thrilled to be a new member of the Connecticut Basketball Hall of Fame.

Heather’s children have had successful athletic careers as well. Her daughter Sarah is currently coaching her own freshman girls’ basketball team at Guilford High School. Her son Kyle played for Trumbull High School.

Heather now works for Yale University as a Communications Coordinator at Yale Health. Aside from her job at Yale, Heather runs her own business as a photographer, called Heather Liberman Photography.