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By JENNIFER MOONSONG
Glasgow News 1
Following the consolidation of the schools to a centralized Barren County High School, there was still tension, but something soon came along that changed all that; The BCHS girls’ basketball team of 1975.
“It was the first year we had girls’ basketball,” said Coach Bobby Steenbergen, who was tasked with leading the new team.
“We were a very, very young high school and we had few coaches. Gene Johnson, by process of elimination, named me the first girls’ basketball coach. It was a good ride,” he said.
“We had a core group of athletic girls’ and that became the core nucleus we built around. It quickly became an interesting sport, and crowd pleaser, and a soothing part for our county,” Steenbergen said.
“There was still a lot of tension following the consolidation. I was always pro consolidation, but I understood the concern of the other side as well,” he said. Steenbergen graduated from Austin Tracy, and his mother was a teacher there. However, he understood that growth was necessary.
“It was a healing time. But in the beginning we didn’t have a gymnasium. Girls and boys practiced in the [National Guard] armory, and played games at old centers,” Steenbergen said.
Through diligence, natural abilities and practice, the team became a group that lots of people started paying attention to.
“We became pretty good,” said Coach Steenbergen. “We had a rivalry with other counties that exists even today. We didn’t play the 30 game schedule they do now, but we played several games,” Steenbergen said.
The excitement surrounding the 1975 BCHS girls’ basketball team spread like wildfire as the season drew on.
“The gyms were filled. We had people who follow those young ladies who didn’t even follow sports. Barren has more fans at Richmond than all the other teams put together. That’s really saying something,” Steenbergen said.
Described as the “biggest thing in Barren County since the reservoir” the Trojanettes drew significant crowds.
Submitted by Barren County Schools
After a winning streak, the team got beat in the state championship game.
“But it was still a win, because what it did was solidify our county. It was a healing point. We had people who had fought against each other during the strain of the consolidation leaning on the rail, cheering for the girls together,” Steenbergen reminisced.
One particular memory from 1975 stands out for Coach Steenbergen that happened at the height of excitement surrounding the team.
The first BCHS girls’ basketball team of 1975 became a huge point of interest and discussion for the community, and frequently made the newspaper.
Submitted by Barren County Schools
“When we walked into the cafeteria the young ladies were chanting ‘we want a gym’. Not only was the team chanting, but the crowd started chanting it with them. The air was electric,” Steenbergen said.
Perhaps their most touching thing was the players knew they’d not get to play in the gym, but recognized it would be there for generations of players to come.
“They wanted it for future Trojanettes. And four years later, that gym existed,” Steenbergen said.
Reflecting on 1975, Steenbergen still has passion in his voice and pride for what the first BCHS girls’ basketball team accomplished for the county and the school system.
“It was a new time, a fun time. We latched on to every little thing that was meaningful. It didn’t just set stage for Barren County girls’ basketball, it set the stage for women’s basketball state wide. To have four or five thousand people attend a regional tournament was unheard of. That team made that happen,” he said.
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