Trophy won by Placer girls basketball team in 1908 is found in Utah antique store

Mary Brophy-Salaber of Idaho woke up one morning and decided to drive down to Salt Lake City with her husband for an adventure. It wasn't uncommon for the Placer High School graduate to do so, as they would often go for drives and take in the scenery of the local area. On this particular day, Brophy-Salaber decided to stop at an antique shop in Provo, where more than 1,000 miles away, she found a connection to her hometown. "There was this little collection of trophies, so I started looking at them. There was one that was particularly beautiful and caught my eye," she recalled in an interview with the Auburn Journal. "So I'm just looking at them and I see Placer High School. I said, 'Oh my gosh, these are from my high school.' My husband and I started looking at them all, and they were all from Placer." There were four trophies in total, ranging from 1908 to the 1920s, but the beautiful trophy that caught her eye belonged to the 1908 girls basketball team, the first team on the hardwood to win a league championship. Brophy-Salaber bought the trophies but held on to them for some time because she wasn't sure who to contact to return them to Auburn. Finally, a classmate from her 1979 graduating class pointed her in the direction of the Hillmen Foundation. The cup, awarded to Placer 115 years ago, was finally coming home. "The cups came to us in December. It just kind of blew us away because we had already decided to induct the 1908 girls basketball team into the Hall of Fame, and then to get this cup on top of that was just a huge bonus," said Placer Athletic Hall of Fame board member Bob Burge. Burge said the cup will be on display at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony in April and then will be in the Hall of Fame room permanently.