After being a four-year starter at Center Grove, Emily Butler went on to play for the Indiana All-Star team and at Northwestern University.
Daily Journal file photo
Those operating vehicles near Center Grove High School saw plenty of Emily Butler during the summer of 1995.
And frankly, they might’ve been a bit confused.
It was the summer following her eighth-grade school year, and Butler, a 5-foot-8 guard, wasn’t going to be satisfied easing into her varsity basketball career.
“I remember coach (Joe) Lentz had a reputation for not putting freshmen on the varsity,” remembers Butler, 43, alluding to the Trojans’ girls basketball coach from 1994 to 2009. “During that summer, I would run the two miles to school with my tennis racket.
“I would lift weights with the varsity girls, play some pickup and then usually do three hours of tennis camp. Then I would run home.”
Butler’s commitment paid major dividends. She was a starting guard for the 1995-96 squad that won what remains the school’s lone girls state basketball championship.
On April 27, Butler will be one of 18 former players from Indiana to be honored as a member of the annual Silver Anniversary Team. The awards dinner is at Primo Banquet Hall in Indianapolis starting at 6 p.m.
Butler, who graduated in 1999 and was a member of the Indiana All-Star team, finished her Center Grove career with 1,124 points. Her 379 assists in a Trojan uniform remain the program standard.
Early on, a lot of Butler’s motivation took place late in the 1994-95 campaign. She sat in the Greenfield-Central gymnasium and watched Center Grove drop a 90-84 double-overtime thriller to Rushville in the regional title game.
“Great memories. It feels like a lifetime ago, to be honest,” said Butler, who is an administrator in the Highline school district in Seattle and has applied to law school. “Sometimes, I forget what a big deal it all was.
“I look at the banquet as an opportunity to thank the people who got me there.”
Butler went on to play women’s basketball at Northwestern University. She averaged 6.8 points a game as a freshman and 12.7 as a sophomore before having the remainder of her career derailed by a series of knee injuries.
Butler played in a total of 54 games the first half of her college career and 21 over her junior and senior seasons combined. In all, she’s had surgery performed on her right knee eight times and undergone surgery on her left knee three times.
Basketball has provided Butler some of her most heartwarming and heartbreaking moments.
“I don’t really do any basketball anymore,” said Butler, laughing. “I’ve had 11 knee surgeries, so maybe once a year. It kind of comes back. The thing I miss the most is the fancy pass. I love a good, flashy pass.”
Only this time, Butler will be the recipient of recgnition, not dishing it out.
