Forever bonded
BUTLER TWP — Prior to last weekend's Butler County Sports Hall of Fame dinner, the 2000 Karns City girls basketball state championship team had not gotten together since high school.
“People get married, have kids, move away ... It's tough,” Courtnay Rattigan Bryson, center and leading scorer of that team, said.
No matter how far apart geographically, the 2000 Gremlins are forever bonded.
All but one of the girls on that team — Melanie Rankin — made it back for the banquet that recognized its achievement.
“I'm as proud of you tonight as I was 11 years ago,” their coach, Larry Deal, said, his eyes reddening. “I miss you all.”
After Deal addressed the banquet gathering, each player approached and embraced him, one-by-one.
Rattigan scored more than 1,400 points in her Karns City career. Point guard Karissa Kusick scored more than 1,300. Both went on to play college ball — at Indiana (Pa.) and Baldwin-Wallace, respectively.
Rattigan Bryson is now a stay-at-home mom in Baltimore, Md. Kusick works with cancer patients at the Cleveland Clinic. Holly Bly, a reserve on that squad, is now an assistant girls basketball coach at Butler.
“You move on from high school and life sorta starts all over again,” Kusick said.
The five senior starters on that team — Rattigan, Kusick, Alicia Anderson, Kerry Gutherie and Ronda Vlassich — played together since sixth grade.
“Lisa Kepple talked me into playing basketball through Karissa,” Rattigan Bryson recalled. “Kerry and Ronda came from Sugarcreek Elementary, Alicia, Karissa and I from Chicora.
“Coach Deal made the tough decision of moving Karissa and I up. It was not a popular decision to start us both as freshmen. I thank him for having that courage to do that, and for believing her and I could do great things.”
Deal involved his players with the elementary program, having them speak with the younger kids.
He said the advanced maturity level of the girls enabled them to give effective talks.
“All I did was tell them to have one player talk about grades, another about hard work, another about practice, etc. ... They organized everything and pulled it off perfectly,” Deal said. “It looked like they were rehearsing for weeks.
“Those girls all came from great families. They were mature before they even got to me.”
Karns City opened that 2000 season at the Blackhawk Tournament. Three of those four teams — Karns City (Class AA), Blackhawk (AAA) and Oakland Catholic (AAAA) — reached the state finals that year.
The Gremlins led Oakland Catholic by five with three minutes to play — and lost. They never lost again, reeling off 30 straight wins to go 31-1 and capture the PIAA title.
“To win 30 games in a row in anything, you have to be pretty blessed good. And those girls were,” Deal said.
Rattigan Bryson said everyone knew her role and played it perfectly.
“Alicia and I pounded the boards, Karissa ran the offense, Kerry and Ronda could hit from outside,” she said. “And when one of us got in foul trouble, (sophomore) Kellie (Kepple) knew it was her turn.”
Kusick is still amazed today over how tight that 2000 team was.
“I remember the fun times in practice and the trying times in practice,” she said. “Players, coaches, we had flare-ups, but nothing could take that team apart. Nothing.
“Am I surprised we all came back 11 years later? Not at all. We weren't gonna miss this.”
Deal chuckled when recalling his years coaching the Gremlins.
“Being a man coaching girls sports ... Women are nuts. I can say that without reservation,” he said. “I taught at the high school and I had each one come in to see me at some point during the day, just to see what mood they'd be in come practice time.
“Regardless of moods, they were committed to each other and they played together. The whole community got behind them like nothing I've ever seen.
“I'd stop at a gas station or something and people I didn't even know walked up to me, called me ‘coach' and wished us luck. I cherish that time, absolutely cherish it,” Deal added.
Deal's assistant coaches were Chris Barnes, Steve Andreassi, Chris Bellis and Dave Kerschbaumer. Barnes was the lone paid assistant. The other three eventually became head varsity coaches with the Gremlins.
