Rattigan Bryson

This is the last in a series of articles profiling the 2011 inductees into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame.Every now and then, Courtnay Rattigan Bryson still experiences the pain.She certainly enjoyed the gain.The center on Karns City's 2000 PIAA Class AA girls basketball championship team will be inducted into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame at the organization's annual banquet April 30 at the Butler Days Inn.That entire Gremlins team will also be honored at the fete. Its coach, Larry Deal, will speak on the squad's behalf.“I couldn't imagine this induction going any other way,” Rattigan Bryson said. “There's more than 300 individuals in that Hall of Fame and they're very deserving.“But very few teams have been able to accomplish what we did.”Rattigan scored 1,433 points during her prep basketball career. Point guard Karissa Kusick scored 1,351. Forward Alicia Anderson and guards Kerry Gutherie and Ronda Vlassich — all seniors — rounded out the starting five. Sophomore Kellie Kepple was the first player off the bench.All are expected to be in attendance at the banquet.“I can't wait to see everybody,” Rattigan Bryson said. “We haven't been together as a group since high school.“We were all like sisters and our coaches were like our uncles. We were girls ... We'd have our tiffs at practice or off the court, but come game time, we were a unit that worked together. Everyone excelled in her role.“It's hard to stay in touch. People go to college, get married, have kids, move away. Facebook is a magical thing, though,” she added.Rattigan Bryson was nominated for induction by Chicora resident John Paserba.“She was just a tremendous athlete, one of the best we've had at Karns City,” Paserba said. “I appreciated her ability so much.“There were a lot of good players on that basktball team, but Courtnay was their leader. Karissa was outstanding, too. I'm sure she'll get in eventually.”Rattigan Bryson also played soccer, volleyball and ran track and field at Karns City. She ran track for one year and played volleyball for two.As a soccer goalie, she accumulated 38 shutouts during her final two seasons.“I grew up as a soccer player,” she said. “That was my first love. We used to make fun of the basketball girls. We didn't think it was a real contact sport.“I didn't start playing basketball until seventh grade. I was a tall girl and they talked me into it.”Rattigan Bryson quickly became a dominant player. She went over the 1,000-point plateau in high school during a 33-point performance against Oakland Catholic — the eventual PIAA Quad-A runner-up that year.That Oakland Catholic game was the Gremlins' lone loss of their state championship season.“That was probably the best game I ever played and I didn't care. I was so mad that we lost,” Rattigan Bryson recalled. “Karissa and I played AAU ball the previous year with some girls from Girard who had just won a state title.“We discovered we could play at their level, that our team could do everything their team could. That's when we started believing we could do some big things.”In Rattigan Bryson's case, success came at a price. She began experiencing knee problems in high school. She went on to play at Indiana (Pa.) University, but two knee surgeries and a broken leg limited her time on the court.She scored 401 points and grabbed 251 rebounds in 94 collegiate games.“Looking back on it, I should have quit playing after that first year,” she admitted. “After I broke my leg, our (IUP) trainer even told me I should consider the big picture and what shape I'd be in later in life.“But I loved the game. I couldn't walk away from it.”When she couldn't play, Rattigan Bryson spent more time with the coaches, going over plays and seeing the game from a different perspective.She wound up an assistant coach at IUP and with Karns City before motherhood took her out of the game.Now married, Rattigan Bryson lives in Baltimore, Md., and is a stay-at-home mom to her 2-year-old son, Max. She plans to return to coaching eventually.“I don't have any cartilage in my knees,” she said. “Every now and then, I feel the swelling, soreness, stiffness. I remember all of those times trying to study with ice on my knees ... It wasn't fun.“But the experience was fantastic.”Tickets for the 6:30 p.m. banquet are $20 and are available at Bill's Beer Barn and Snack ‘n Pack in Butler, Moses Jeweler at the Clearview Mall, Parker Appliance in Chicora and Saxonburg Drug.