Former NBA All-star, Karl Malone, surprised a crowd of more than 200 as the guest speaker at the Columbia Christian School all-sports banquet. Mr. Malone spoke on respect, honor and duty. The speech started out with a moment of silence for our troop's world wide. Mr. Malone went on to encourage those in attendance to respect themselves first and in so doing they would learn to respect those in authority as well. Mr. Malone also stated that basketball was not life but a part of life and that we should use the talents and resources we have to help others. In closing, he stated that life was short and that we should take advantage of every opportunity that God gives us.

Karl Malone attended Louisiana Tech University in Ruston LA. where he was drafted by the Utah Jazz as the 13th over all pick in the 1985 NBA draft. While in playing in the NBA he was selected as one of the NBA's 50 greatest players and a two time NBA-MVP. He was selected to the NBA's All-star team 14 times and was MVP of the All-star game twice. He has also won 2 gold medals on our US Olympics' Dream Team and ranks second all-time in the NBA with 36,374 points scored in a career.