When you walk into Mr. Carhart’s classroom there is one big thing that stands out: he has many flags on the wall including the Finnish flag.
Many people don’t know the history of former FHC basketball coach Carhart. He once was a celebrity in Finland as one of the top basketball players in the country. Carhart became a national phenom, and eople from every single city, big or small, came out to experience the Kyle Carhart show. However, it all started in Boston.
“I was first contacted by an agency to come to a basketball camp in Boston,” Carhart said. “There were just a hundred guys that were invited and I knew a couple of names, so me and my dad talked it over and decided to head to Boston in the summer. I came in knowing that there were only five of us out of the hundred that would get signed to a contract. I played my heart out and eventually got signed to a lower-level division contract in Finland. I signed the contract and then two days later I left on a plane toward Lapua, Finland.”
This started an uphill trend toward the carer of Carhart; he became a sensation. Carhart played overseas for a while and dominated in the Finnish league and also in Sweden. He wasn’t asked to be a role player like everywhere else he played in his career; this time he was the focus.
“The president and board members’ sons were on the team, so they had an invested interest,” Carhart said. We had two other guys who had played in the league previously who were really good players. I came in and had a different role than I had in college. I was asked to score a lot more. I was asked to do a lot more when I played overseas versus when I played for coach [Ken] George who always gave me the red light. So, it was just very different.”
Carhart became a show that needed to be seen in Finland. The team traveled all around playing teams in Russia, the Netherlands, and Finland.
“When I first got to Finland, my first games were in what they call the Finish Cup,” Carhart said. “It’s what all teams throughout Finland play. We made it to the Elite Eight or the Final Four, which was the first time in team history. We went to three different arenas and places and played right on the Russian border. We went into Russia for a little bit and played a team that was there. They killed us by like 40, however, it was just a wild experience.”
As his time in Finland came to an end, Carhart realized there was a little more to experience back at GVSU (where he went to college and played basketball). He came back to get certified to teach and soon he started his teaching career. After this, he went on to coach at Lowell. Then he was hired as head coach at FHC.
“When I started here in the FHC basketball program I played for Coach George, whom I met when I was younger,” Carhart said. “We used to come to the games when I was younger and we were able to play in the old gym during the varsity games, so we’d shoot and then run back in to watch the big moments. The first games I saw were in the old gym, so I always inspired and wanted to play in high school.”
