BUTLER TWP — The Butler County Sports Hall of Fame's membership swelled to 333 Saturday night.

It picked up a few more prideful moments as well.

The 46th annual BCSHOF banquet took place in Holiday Hall at the Butler Days Inn with an overflow crowd of 400-plus in attendance.

“I thought there'd be 200 people here and I was nervous about speaking in front of that,” former Karns City girls basketball standout Courtnay Rattigan Bryson said. “There are 400 people here and I'm twice as nervous.

“I'm shaking right now.”

Dess Schnur, Don Wix, Bill Black, James Geist, Mike Franko and the late Don Hixon joined Rattigan Bryson in gaining induction at the fete. Karns City's 2000 PIAA Class AA girls basketball championship team was also honored.

Hixon was a 1936 Penn Township graduate, a master of the two-handed set shot who set the school's single-season scoring record. He was a stellar baseball player and eventual basketball coach, too.

“He was always teaching the game,” his grandson, Dan Hixon, said. “He was using the four-corner offense to protect a lead five years before Dean Smith was born.

“My grandfather was a deadly shooter. He sank 80 of 100 shots from the top of the key during a contest one time and made 39 free throws in a row. His saying was that you may never run out of money, but you will run out of time. That ratio is 100 percent.

“I always knew my grandfather was a Hall of Famer. This just makes it official,” Hixon added.

Wix was a record-setting basketball scorer at Mars who also played in two all-star baseball games at Forbes Field.

He also helped found a sports complex in Downingtown that serves 2,500 kids today.

“I've lived in a number of communities and have always contributed to those communities,” Wix said. “If you want to do something for a kid in a community, get him involved in sports.”

Schnur has spent a lifetime in baseball that includes winning numerous titles as manager of the East Butler American Legion team, overseeing the development of the multiple-field East Butler Baseball Complex and now serving as director of stadium operations at Pullman Park.

“My two sons and daughter all attained scholarships to college. We built a pitcher's mound and backstop in the backyard for practice,” Schnur said.

“They were all pitchers and my favorite position was catcher, so we made a perfect combination.”

Schnur and the late Ches Marburger combined to serve 57 years as Butler County American Legion League president, beginning in 1952.

“Ches encouraged me to carry the torch,” Schnur said. “I live to work sports. If my services are needed and respected, I will continue to serve.”

Black won 243 games as a high school hockey coach at Hampton and Butler and is a multiple county amateur golf champion.

“Coaching runs in my family,” Black said. “There are eight of us altogether and I believe my parents would be proud of their children.

“My belief has always been that it takes discipline, hard work and commitment to be successful. And the hardest thing about coaching is watching from the sidelines.”

Franko was a well-decorated cross country and distance runner who has been in charge of the Butler Road Race for years. That event has raised $303,000 for 578 scholarship winners with a composite 3.7 grade point average over the past 18 years.

“We've been able to help some fantastic young people,” Franko said. “My racing days are over, but my passion for the sport goes on.

“Just being asked to fill out a Hall of Fame resume form by my coach, Chuck Dunaway, was all the recognition I needed. This selection is icing on the cake.”

Geist was a record-setting javelin thrower at Knoch High School and Slippery Rock University.

“The individual awards and medals didn't mean as much to me as the opportunities sports had given me,” Geist said. “I got to compete from Hampton, Va., to Los Angeles, from Buffalo, N.Y., to San Angelo, Texas.

“For a kid from Cabot, that was pretty cool. I was able to meet some wonderful people through sports.”

Rattigan Bryson scored 1,433 points at Karns City and was MVP of the state championship game. She lauded many coaches and mentors for helping her become the athlete she was.

“I was 5-foot-2 in fourth grade and was 5-4 by the end of that year,” she recalled. “Mr. (KC athletic director Tom) Wagner always made sure I embraced my height and said I had to let it work for me.

“My dad was my first coach and my biggest fan. He always wrote me notes of encouragement and I still have every one. Our driveway games ... My brother Beau taught me all about no blood, no foul. Our games didn't end until the ball rolled down the hill or our parents broke us up.”

“That 2000 team, we were embraced as a family. I'll never forget that,” she added.