Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League

Category: Heritage | Alma Mater: Munhall, 1961 | Sport: Rifle
 

A 1961 graduate of Munhall, Trilby Busch was a key piece to the greatest WPIAL dynasty in the sport of rifle, helping lead the team to three WPIAL, two state, and two national championships during her four varsity seasons. As a junior, Busch was instrumental in Munhall’s march to its 14th WPIAL crown with a perfect score of 1,000, and in the state championship she posted a perfect score against Doylestown to capture state glory alongside female teammates Barbara Cerra, Dottie Darsie, Bronwyn Evans, Mary Ann Gruen, Christie Harman, and Nancy Wilson. She added another perfect 100-10x score in the 1960 NRA National Postal Competition, and as a senior in 1961, Busch was named the top shooter in the country. Academically in her senior year, Busch earned runner-up honors at the National Council of Teachers of English’s Annual Achievement Awards Competition. She went on to graduate with her Bachelor’s degree in English from the College of William & Mary, and later earned Master’s and Doctorate degrees from Ohio University. Busch has gone on to write the book “Darkness Visible: A Novel of the 1892 Homestead Strike”, spent nearly 20 years as an English instructor at Normandale Community College, and is currently the owner of Steelworks Press, LLC in Minneapolis. From March 2024 to January 2025, she was featured in the sports section of the major exhibition “A Woman’s Place: How Women Shaped Pittsburgh” at the Senator John Heinz History Center.