McPHERSON, Kan. – The McPherson Bullpup Booster Club announced that they will host their 1st Annual Banquet, which will take place Saturday, Nov. 15, at the McPherson Community Building.
The evening will consist of a dinner, an open bar, a silent auction, and a keynote speaker. The building will open its doors at 5:30 p.m., the dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m., and the keynote address will take place at 7:30 p.m. Seating is reserved and limited. Individual seating is $50, a Reserved Table of eight is $400, a Premier Table of eight is $1,000, and an Elite Table of eight is $2,000. All proceeds go to McPherson Middle School and McPherson High School Activities.
The keynote speaker will be renowned women’s basketball star Jackie Stiles, whose story comes full circle with McPherson High School girls basketball in multiple ways. A native of Claflin, Stiles played basketball at Claflin High School under head coach Clint Kinnamon, who is now the head girls basketball coach at McPherson. She finished her high school career as the MVP of the WBCA High School All-America game.
Stiles would go on to play at Southwest Missouri State (now Missouri State) from 1997-2001, where he was the two-time NCAA season scoring leader and became the first NCAA Division I women’s player to score at least 1,000 points in a season. She held the NCAA DI record for most career points scored until it was broken by Kelsey Plum in 2017. While in college, she earned three Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Player of the Year awards and three all-American honors, including a first-team honoree her senior year.
The Portland Fire drafted Stiles with the 4th overall pick of the 2001 WNBA Draft. In her first season, Stiles was named a WNBA All-Star and won the WNBA Rookie of the Year award. Her playing career ended in 2006 before starting her coaching career as an assistant at the NCAA DI level, including at her alma mater of Missouri State from 2013-19. She was also an assistant at Oklahoma from 2019-21, where she also coached former Bullpup star Taylor Robertson, who held an NCAA DI record for most career three-point shots made before being broken by Iowa star and current member of the WNBA’s Indiana Fever Caitlin Clark.
Those wanting to attend can sign up by CLICKING HERE.
