From 10 day Contracts to Full Time Teacher

Sports fans from the Stillwater area usually have the luxury of watching some of the best high school football talent in the state. However, back in the 1970's, fans were lucky enough to have Chris Engler, a basketball player at Stillwater Area High School. Chris' dreams were about playing the game he loved and playing for a long time with big aspirations. In Chris' sophomore year in high school ('74-'75), he was 6-6 and weighed only 140 pounds. Thinking he needed to bulk up, Chris chose to go on a weight-gain diet that his track coach, Steve Forseth, developed. Chris was on it for three months and gained 45 pounds while running cross-country, playing hoops and lifting weights. In Chris's junior year, the basketball team won their conference, their section and took 6th at the State Tournament. Chris had grown to be 6-10 and weighed 225 pounds by his senior year. His team, in the 1976-77 season, won their conference with an undefeated season. That year, Stillwater went on to win their section and took fourth in the state tournament. In the 1977 Minnesota State High School Basketball Tournament, Chris scored a total of 81 points in three games, making him one of three players tied for the record. The others to share the record were Gary Wolters, Little Falls High School and Andre Griffin from Central High School in St. Paul. After graduating from Stillwater in 1977, Chris walked-on to the basketball team at the University of Minnesota despite having offers from several Division I and II colleges. Chris's highlights as a Gopher include playing with such greats as: Mychal Thompson, Kevin McHale, Osborne "Goose" Lockhart, Bill Duffy, Dave Winey and Steve Lingenfelter. In 1979, with Minnesota bringing in Gary "Cookie" Holmes and recruiting Randy Breuer, Chris could foresee that his playing time be limited. At that point, Chris decided to seek a transfer to a place where he could play "big minutes." Chris states "Jim Brandenburg, who was at Montana and recruited me out of high school, had moved to Wyoming and once I secured my release from the University of Minnesota, I contacted him. He recruited me and I decided to transfer to Wyoming." After sitting out his red-shirt year, Wyoming's program won over 20 games in the 1980 - 81 season and tied with Brigham Young and Utah for the league lead. Wyoming played in the NCAA tournament that year, losing a close one to Illinois. Wyoming finished 15th in the country after the NCAA Championship Game in 1981. Chris' highlights continued at Wyoming in 1981-82 where he started nearly every game and Wyoming won their conference again, outright. That same season, Wyoming lost a tough one to Georgetown University with 1 ½ minutes to play in the game to end their season. "This was Patrick Ewing's freshman year," Chris said. "I was satisfied with the fact that I was one of the leaders with 14 points scored and seven rebounds. I remember that Patrick Ewing scored 7 points." Wyoming was ranked number 19 in the country after the NCAA Championship game in 1982." In 1982, Chris was drafted in the NBA by the Golden State Warriors with the 60th pick overall (3rd round). Chris played with the Golden State Warriors in the 1982-83 and 1983-84 seasons and then was the last cut from the team. Because other rosters were set, Chris had to go to Casper in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) to play and was later called up to the NBA again by the New Jersey Nets. Despite having career highs in scoring (14) and rebounding (9), Chris was cut as Daryl Dawkins came back from an injury. After being picked up by the Chicago Bulls in order to fill in for Caldwell Jones, Chris got to play with the legendary Michael Jordan his rookie year. Once Jones healed from his injury, Chris was let go again. He went back to the Casper team, who lost in the playoffs, and eventually was called up by the Milwaukee Bucks. Chris initially signed a 10-day contract but the Bucks decided after that to sign him for the rest of the year. In the1985-86 season, Chris played a few months in Italy and returned to nurse an injury. During that "idle" time, Chris worked hard to make the Milwaukee team for the 1986-87 basketball season, only to be traded to the Portland Trailblazers for a second round pick. After getting released from the team at Christmas party, the Bucks called Chris up for another shot. After a slew of injuries to guards, and having plenty of big men, Chris was the odd man out again. Luckily, the Nets came to a point where they needed someone and thought of Chris. After a couple of 10-day contracts, Chris was on the New Jersey squad for the remainder of that year (1987) and all of the 1987-88 basketball season. In the 1988-89 season and after trying again to make the NBA Washington club, Chris spent some time playing in Rapid City, South Dakota for Flip Saunders, in France and in Sweden. Chris then moved on to pursue a law degree at Hamline University (St. Paul) and graduated with a J.D. in 1994 and a MAPA in 1995. After practicing family law for three years, Chris decided he wanted to help kids rather than hurt them due to the system of family law, and according to Chris, "the best interests of the child" standard is not always followed. As Chris had always worked summer basketball camps and loved working with kids, he decided to volunteer coach at Stillwater High School from 1995 to 1997. Chris also asked his former teacher and mentor, Chuck Hoffman, if he could come into his classroom to see how he might like teaching. He ended up loving it even more than coaching! Chris then went to St. Thomas College (S t. Paul) and worked on his licensure and Masters in Education. Chris was hired in 1997 by the Lakeville school district and taught there for eight years along with coaching for three. Chris has now taught the past three years at Stillwater High School and has worked as a volunteer coach the past three years. Chris is appreciative of where he's been, "I am very lucky! I am married to my wife Cara (17 years this July) and we have a daughter, Carina, 6."