Blue Devil Lax Game to Honor Fallen
H-ton Grad
The Huntington High School boys’ lacrosse team will scrimmage New Jersey’s Seton Hall Prep on Saturday, March 26 at 11 a.m. The affair will honor Blue Devil lax alum Kyle Kirst, who passed away suddenly last June. He was 47 years old.
“The main objectives of the event are to show Kyle’s family how much he meant to the Huntington lax community; for the two schools to come together and jointly commemorate Kyle’s life and to try and rejuvenate our lacrosse alumni spirit by renaming the annual alumni game after Kyle,” said Steve Davis, a retired Huntington physical education teacher who coached Mr. Kirst on the Blue Devil lacrosse team.
Mr. Kirst started in goal for Huntington during the 1985 and 1986 seasons. He also played on the Blue Devil football team. “He went on to play lacrosse at Rutgers University and became a very successful and well respected high school coach in New Jersey,” Mr. Davis said. “Unfortunately, he died suddenly this past summer. He left a wife and five sons, two of which play on the Seton Hall Prep team.”
Following the scrimmage game there will be a tailgate party at the Harbor Boating Club on West Shore Road. “We are trying to make this as well attended as we possibly can as a tribute to a great guy,” Mr. Davis said. “Kyle was top shelf all the way.”
Kyle Paulan Kirst was fatally stricken at his home in Bernardsville, New Jersey on Wednesday, June 16, 2015. Born in Huntington on September 8, 1968 to Charles and Gail Kirst, he graduated with Huntington’s Class of 1986. He went on to earn an undergraduate in history and education at Rutgers University in 1990. He taught history at Hanover Park High School.
The Huntington grad’s coaching career kicked off at Princeton High School before he later served as a coach at Hanover Park, West Morris and Summit high schools. In addition to lacrosse, he also coached girls’ basketball during his career.
After completing a stretch as head coach of Hanover Park’s lacrosse team, Mr. Kirst most recently had a 10 year tenure as Summit’s assistant coach, coordinating its legendary defense.
The Blue Devil alum was known for his motivational skills and ability to inspire teenage athletes and develop winning teams. Mr. Kirst’s expressive personality helped create a “larger than life presence, both on and off the field,” according to his friends and colleagues.
Mr. Kirst married his college sweetheart, Michelle Gatreau in 1994 and together they had five children.