All About the Students: A Humans of NIC Feature

Garry Stark served NIC for 25 years- in that time, he worked his way up from electrician to director of Facilities & Operations. All without a college degree of his own, a fact he was proud to share while he sat at his desk. In his office, he exuded a calm sense of pride. Rightly so; not many tradesmen find their way into a lofty position the way he did.

While Stark managed to beat the system, he understands that’s not how it goes for most folks. That’s why he’s even more proud to have served students at NIC for so long.

“I was an electrician. I packed up the family at one point and moved to California. I said, ‘I ain’t raising my kids here, I graduated from high school here.’ I brought them back, and when I was working I got a job at the sawmill. I was doing electrical work there, and I kept thinking, ‘is that sawmill gonna last?’ I’d worked there for 9 years.

“Someone told me about this job. So I came down and applied for it. At the mill, I was making $52,000 a year. When I applied here, they were going to start me at $34,000. I was like, ‘Man! That’s not- not very much money.’ And my wife, she goes ‘You know what? You don’t have to be working weekends, it’s not as dangerous,’ so I applied. They offered me the job, I took it. That was ’98- my oldest was graduating, so we were thinking he could probably go to school here. They’d get to go for half price.

“My son went here, then my daughter came here for two years. They both went to [the University of Idaho]. My third child, she went here and played basketball and softball, so she went here three years. They all went to U of I and became first-generation college kids.

“So seriously, the amount of money I made here, it’s not about the money. It’s about the kids, and giving them a future. So that was probably the greatest thing about having this job. You see all the other kids- a coach would say ‘hey, I’ve got this girl from Canada. She’s got no family down here, could she come over and have meals, do her laundry?’ So, we got to meet this girl from Canada.

“Then Shay [Fuson], needed some help. We were good friends from coaching against her dad, so we brought here in and she stayed with us. Another girl lived with us for awhile. It was just a revolving door.”

Shay Fuson now serves as the head softball coach for NIC. She played for the NIC softball team from 2006 to 2008.

“My path here is kind of weird because I never had a college degree or anything, and that’s really what they want in this position, I think. They’re making a decision today on who’s going to replace me, and I’m sure either one of [the candidates] has a college degree, has the credentials to be sitting in this seat.

“Where I just kind of did it by showing up, dressing up, and going to work every day. And not putting myself up here,” Stark raised his hand above his head, “I’ve always been one of the guys. One of the team members. That’s the way I coach, I don’t make captains. We’re all one team.

“I coached softball. I actually had a softball team with my youngest [daughter], and the girls won a national championship. It was one of those years where, we were not having a good year, and we picked up one player from the college, and she took us over the top.

“And the guys are good. Sometimes when you’re in this seat, you have to be the bad guy, you know, and make sure that we’re doing things right. They need to show up, dress up, get to work, and sometimes you have to be the bad guy. But you know, it’s been a good career. Hopefully I can spend many years in retirement.

“I’ve always been involved in little league, parks & rec stuff, I was booster club president in high school. I just got involved in stuff and met people. When I first met my wife, she goes ‘Oh my God, everybody knows you!’ Well, I’ve lived here almost my whole life and been involved, so people did know me.

“The guy that probably had the biggest impact was a guy named Jim Hedley, he was the athletic director at the time. And he knew me from the city, and he heard that I was applying so he ran over here and told the director ‘you’ve got to hire this guy, cause if you don’t, you’re making a serious mistake. This kid is gonna run circles around the rest of these guys.’ He just told me that yesterday.

“My wife, she’s from Moscow. She went to U of I for one year, she came up to play tennis at NIC. She goes, ‘I really can’t afford it right now, so I’m gonna work the first semester,’ and she got a job. I met her her first night working and I proposed 10 weeks later.

“We’re not going to move away. We’re just going to go on trips to different places, but we like Coeur d’Alene.”