Stiles added to Carroll Hall of Fame

On Saturday, September 24, a former Malta standout Kirk Stiles was named to the Carroll College Hall of Fame. Stiles was a part of a Fighting Saints basketball team at Carroll that has now become legendary after their 26-6 record in the 2000-01 season, in which the team was also crowned the Frontier Conference Champions. Stiles earned First Team All-Conference honors in the 1999-2000, 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons.

"It's a pretty humbling experience for sure," Stiles told the PCN. "I think it's something that puts a cap on your career."

For Stiles, the idea of being in the school's Hall of Fame came when he started attending the school on a basketball scholarship in 1999. Stiles would play shooting guard for the Saints from 1999-2002.

"It's kind of in the back of your mind while you're playing," Stiles said. "Thinking, hopefully one day you can be on the wall with the greats."

Stiles was inducted with three other former Carroll College standouts including Centerville's Jeff Shirley (football 2002-05), Jill Jenneskens from Portland Ore. ( volleyball 1989-92) and Helena's Shawn Schweyen (volleyball 1990-93).

The athletes were honored, surrounded by their families at the school's Campus Center. The four inductees were presented with the award from their former coach. Stiles' award was presented by Former Saints Basketball Head Coach Garry Turcott. Stiles also had to share a few words.

"We had to get up and give a speech to about 125 people," Stiles said. "It felt like I was back in business class in college. It went good."

Stiles wasn't the only Saint from that 2001 team that has made the Hall of Fame.

"There have been three other guys on my team that have been inducted to the Hall of Fame as well," Stiles said.

Those players include power forward J.D. Solomon from Billings, small forward Gary Lynch of Great Falls and point guard Shane Gamradt of Fairfield. Stiles shared more information about his teammates.

"J.D. was a five but he could play anywhere from three to five," Stiles said. "He was a pretty big, lanky guy who could shoot the ball pretty good. He could jump out of the gym and was about 6'7" or 6'8". We would throw it up anywhere near the hoop and he was dunking it."

Gamradt won three State B Championships with Fairfield in 94, 95 and 97. The team would have had a four peat had Malta not defeated the Eagles 61-59 in the 1996 State Championship.

"The only time he lost was to us, when I was a sophomore," Stiles said. "So we broke up the four-peat. He came over from Bozeman and we played for three years (at Carroll)."

Though they were high school rivals, Stiles had a deep appreciation for Gamradt and respect for his approach to the game.

"He was the catalyst of the whole deal," Stiles said. "He's probably the best point guard I have ever seen play as far as in the state of Montana."

Lynch was a graduate of Great Falls High School. He attended The University of Montana his freshman year and redshirted. Not seeing much time as a Griz player, he transferred to Carroll, according to Stiles.

"We had Shane, Gary, me and J.D. all on the same time and we were pretty stacked," Stiles said.

Stiles is still the owner of a few school records at Carroll, including a few in the three point category. He owns the record for most treys made in a season with 136 in 2001-02 and in a career with 363. He owns the record for most treys attempted in a game with 16 in a game against Trinity Western and against Lewis-Clark. He owns the record for most treys attempted in a season with 312 in the 2001-02 season and the record for most attempts in a career with 874.

"I had the green light at all times," Stiles said. "It was a fun atmosphere playing because coach liked to score 3, 6, 9, and 12. He liked to score in bunches."

Being such an important part of Carroll's offense driven team, Stiles has had many memorable moments but Stiles narrowed his favorite moments down to two games.

"My coach talked about it at the Hall of Fame Induction.... We were playing for the (Frontier) Championship (against Westminster)," Stiles said. "Or it was the other game against Westminster when I scored just under 40."

In the Championship game against Westminster, Carroll was up by two points late in the game when the Griffins' best player Mitch Montgomery had the ball and was threatening to take the lead with a three pointer.

"He went up for a thirty-footer and I stripped him," Stiles said. "I went down to the other end because I was going to score a layup but they ended up fouling me and I made the free-throws. We were champs that year."

The team seemed destined to go on and win the NAIA tournament in Tulsa, Okla., but then they suffered a first round loss to Oklahoma Baptist.

"We were up about 15 with five minutes to go and he pulled all of the starters out," Stiles said. "In an instant they made a run and within two minutes we were almost tied. He threw everybody back in but by that time the momentum was gone and we ended up losing that game."

Stiles was a very important part of the Malta Mustangs basketball team who won the State B Championship in 1996 and in 1998. The 1996 title came when Malta High School was destroyed by a fire.

"We had to play in Saco and Dodson for our home games," Stiles said. "It was kind of fun traveling. Everybody dreams about their school burning down but after it happens it's not that great because you don't have a gym to play in or a school to go to."

According to Stiles, being a Mustang helped him out during his college years.

"Back then it was really competitive," Stiles said. "There were players everywhere. It helped (playing for Malta) because everyone was so competitive and everyone wanted to win all of the time. Malta has a pretty good reputation for producing players so it helped going there."

Stiles went on to say that he was heavily recruited by schools for not only basketball but for football and track.

As far as his favorite pro player, Stiles' favorite player led his team to many championships in the nineties. "Watching Michael Jordan back then, it was pretty amazing to watch that guy play," Stiles said. "He could do it all and he was the man when I was growing up."

There was no name bigger in basketball than Jordan in the nineties, but as far as molding Stiles into the athlete he was, he gave credit to his parents Craig and Janine Stiles.

"My dad for sure because he's the one who taught me everything that I knew and my mom as well," Stiles said. "They spent a lot of time and money sending me to camps and buying my shoes every other month and traveling to tournaments. They supported me with whatever I did."