Thirty-four years after leaving their mark, the Sacred Heart Academy 1976 state championship basketball team will again take center court. The team will receive state championship rings at a special half-time ceremony during the varsity game between SHA and Assumption on January 17 at Bellarmine University, Knight Hall. Game time is 6:30 p.m.

According to the SHA Angeline yearbook, the 1976 varsity basketball team was a coach’s dream. Susie Sigler Peters and the late Bunny Daugherty coached the team through four championships, Academy League, City League, Regional and State. SHA faced Butler High School in the final at Eastern Kentucky University. When it was over, SHA had beaten the reigning champs, 68-55.

SHA already had numerous state trophies, but this was the school’s first state basketball title. This was also just the second girls’ state championship played since 1932. State trophies, proclamations and pep rallies were the norm in 1976, but not championship rings.

“Even 34 years after the championship, there is a sense of team spirit – the 1976 championship team remains a part of Sacred Heart Academy. Those women were champions in 1976 and remain champions today,” says Donna Bender Moir, SHA’s basketball coach for 19 years and a freshman on the 1976 team. “I think it’s great that all of the members of the championship team will be in attendance to receive their ring, one coming all the way from Australia. That says a lot about the team and that says a lot about Sacred Heart Academy.”

Sacred Heart Academy 1976 State Championship Basketball Team
Carla Amlung
Jessie Bollinger
Joan Esterle
Tina Keller Poulsen
Laura Lombard Lyvers
Kim Brown Knopf
Judy McDonald-Burkman
Missy Brown Royer
Leslie Johnson Fowler
Lynne Jonson Steinel
Laura Purdy Morrissey
Donna Bender Moir
Beth Stegner Peabody

Coaches
Bunny Daugherty
Susie Sigler Peters

Managers
Bridgett Harris Sheehan
Debbie Dawson-Crain