Champions remembered
Berthoud High honors two-time state-winning girls basketball teams
Anne Ballard-della Donne remembers the bus ride back to Berthoud on that March evening in 1993 with the program’s second state championship trophy on board and coming upon so many flashing lights she was sure there was a major accident ahead.
What it was was a police and emergency vehicle escort into town, something the previous year’s state championship team didn’t receive, but a welcome and exciting experience for the players on the bus that night after culminating a remarkable six-year run for the program.
In a span of six seasons, ending with the 1992-93 state title, Berthoud made five Final Four appearances and three championship games, walking away victorious twice. From 1990-1993, the teams lost a total of nine games while winning 96.
Last Thursday night, several players and coaches of the 1991-92 and 92-93 teams gathered at the high school to remember those championship seasons. Memories were shared, with that 93 bus ride coming up multiple times among the players and coaches who returned to commemorate the championships.
“It was dark and there were a bunch of firefighters and police cars with their lights on at the exit to Berthoud,” Ballard-della Donne said. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. There’s been an accident.’ They were actually there to escort our bus. I don’t know what time it was. It was late going back to town with all their lights on. That felt really cool.”
Many of the team’s memories were simply those of playing with their teammates, the time they spent together on and off the court and the celebrations and shenanigans.
“There’s not one single memory, I think it’s a bunch of memories over a lot of years and I would say all the little shenanigans,” Kerri Burcham-resig said. “Whenever we all get back together, that’s what built our teams were the friendships. There were fire drills, there was Tping at (coach John Mitchell’s) house. There’s just a lot of things outside the court that I think brought us all together and made us stronger on the court.”
Burcham-resig recalled a game in which Berthoud, which was a very tall team during those championship runs, was facing Lamar, a team much shorter. Teammate Tiani Hatch-schoemaker suggested the team stand on their tip-toes, to look even more intimidating.
Stacey Gade-sharp wasn’t on the 92-93 team, but as a senior on the 9192 team, she was a part of the second, third and finally first-place teams from 1990-92.
The 1990 team went 241, but that one loss came in the state championship game.
“It was such a big deal,” she said of winning the 1992 title after coming so close the two previous seasons. “My favorite memory was just actually winning first. I think that getting to share it with the girls that worked so hard to get to that point together made it extra special. And we were super good friends outside of basketball. We had a lot of fun, and it wasn’t just coming to practice and playing. We actually got along well and had a lot of good times.”
Mitchell, who earned numerous coach of the year awards in both the 1980s and 90s, shared a memory of the 1990 season when both the Berthoud girls and boys took undefeated records into their state championship games only to suffer their first loss and finish as state runners-up. The girls stayed up to watch the boys’ semifinal game before getting some sleep prior to their championship game the next morning.
He also remembered the police escort, saying he was driving 85 miles per hour and was sure he was going to get a ticket. He was nervous, but then relieved the lights and sirens were there to lead them back into town.
Thirty years later, he shared how proud he was of the teams then and how proud he still is now seeing what they have all become.
“It’s just an honor,” Mitchell said. “They were just awesome kids, not just basketball players, but athletes, not just athletes, but students. I think our average GPA, I want to say, was like 3.87, almost 3.9. We had a lot of 4.0s. They just were good kids, good students, they worked hard. That made it just easy for us. We didn’t have to worry about what they were doing or keep track of them. They kept track of us.”
The returning champions also made time to share some advice with the current Berthoud squad, both lessons learned on the court and off of it.
The current Berthoud girls team is ranked No. 10 in Class 4A and fighting for playoff position as the season enters its final weeks.
“You’re part of a team,” Carolyn Betts said. “These are some of my teammates from 30 years ago, and they are pretty cool chicks. What I can say to you is that the biggest thing that you have to succeed is honestly and truthfully what you do off the basketball court and that’s in the classroom. Your success in life is not going to necessarily catalyst off the court, it’s going to be in your classrooms. As a team, you are as strong as your weakest link. If you think about it that way, whoever your weakest link is on your team, you need to find a way to make them stronger, and then you will succeed greatly.”
The returning champions were then recognized before the Spartans’ game against Weld Central and cheered the current team to a 71-33 victory.