Clint Eastwood's latest movie "Million Dollar Baby" has put the the national spotlight on female boxers.

But thirty years ago on the local scene, two Carroll College ladies created quite a stir of their own -- both positive and negative -- when they squared off against each other in the ring.

The event was the 1975 Carroll Smoker, and the students were juniors Sharon Egging, from Gurley, Neb., and Louise Hoffmann of Glasgow.

"I just could not believe all the publicity it created, before and after the fight," recalled Sharon (Egging) Gartner in a telephone interview from her home in Hastings, Minn. "I know that someone of authority in the state boxing circles tried to discourage it and we weren't sure if it would be sanctioned."

Hank Burgess, an English professor at the Hilltop who had fought in two smokers (in 1948 and 1951) as a student, revitalized the event in 1958, and for the next 20 years he coached the Carroll boxers prior to the annual ring battles.

"We were very concerned that someone might get hurt," Burgess said recently in recalling the hoopla of the 1975 smoker. "I was careful that the ladies had an idea of what to do before getting into the ring."

"The year before, several of us girls clowned around between bouts like we were fighting," Gartner explained. "The next year as juniors, since our class was putting on the smoker, four of us decided that we wanted to actually fight -- really learn the moves instead of just being a comedy act. So we started training with Mr. Burgess. Two of the girls dropped out, leaving us two, and I almost changed my mind, but Louise talked me into it. Besides, as the date got closer it became too late for me to back out."

Gartner said that although she was not an athlete, two of her brothers, Dan and Alan, who also fought in the smokers, gave her a few pugilistic pointers, as well as moral support.

She said that Louise, who presently resides in North Platte, Neb., outweighed her 145 pounds to 120. "I don't remember much of the fight, except that she fractured my nose," Gartner said. "I must've landed something though, because Louise told me afterwards that I may have disclocated her jaw. A couple days later it made a popping sound like it was going back into place. The doctor who looked at my nose said, 'You had no business being in the ring with that girl, she was too big for you.'

Before the fight, Mr. Burgess told me that he'd pay me a dime for every punch I landed, and he'd collect a dime for every time I got hit. After they announced that Louise had won and I was climbing out of the ring, he said, 'You owe me a buck-and-a-half.'"

And although there was a lot of attention on the gal's fight that year, the 14 other bouts involving the guys were the main attraction.

"Bob Ouren, a 185 pound junior from Townsend, pounded his way to a unanimous decision over Bryce Bertlino in the semi-main event to earn the Bishop Hunthausen Award as the smoker's outstanding boxer," according to the Independent Record. "However, it was 200-pound Matt Buckley who won the hearts of many of the fans as he brawled his way to a win over John Rucker of the Anaconda Police Athletic League in the main event. Buckley, a freshman from Butte, received the Thomas Clinch Inspirational Boxer Award."

After the curtain-raising exhibition between 55-pound Helenans Jon Hoovestal and Billy Guay, the remaining bouts on the regular card consisted of: 70 pounds - Tom Burgess (Helena) over Jamie Gonzales (Helena Boxing Club); 75 - Steve Anderson (APAL) over Steve Guay (HBC); 75 - Rick Johnson (HBC) over John Laughlin (APAL); 75 - Jim Anderson (APAL) over Jim Pilon (HBC); 85 - Ed Guay (HBC) over Tom Ingerson (APAL); 155 - Bill Kessler (CC) over Vince O'Reilly (CC); 147 - Dave Young (CC) over John Dicken (Gonzaga); 155 - Bob Cure (CC) over Rob Blotkamp (CC); 160 - Greg Harbac (CC) over Frank Gannon (CC); 155 - Jim Wulf (CC) over Mike Becky (CC); and 200 - Steve Ettienne (CC) over John Zeilstra (CC).

Joe Hammond assisted Burgess in training the fighters, while the cornermen that night were Bob Applegate, Al Blackford, Charlie Atkins and Larry Jaeger. The ring officials were comprised of referees Curly O'Leary and Billy O'Neill; judges Jim Manion, Bill Johnson and Bill "Bo" Grmoljes scored the fights; with Vic Beneventi and Guido Bugni acting as timekeepers.

"Louise and Sharon were two lovely ladies and they were tough," Burgess reminisced. "They learned how to box and did a fine job, too. They really laid the leather on each other."

"After the fight, I got a phone call from the Los Angeles Times," said Gartner, 50. "There was a reporter there from South Africa who wanted to know about our training techniques, because apparently women had just started boxing in South Africa."

Sharon Gartner said that she hasn't seen Million Dollar Baby yet, but intends to. And did she ever fight again after that bout three decades ago?

"No. I still can't believe I did it, and I would never do it again," she laughed.

CURT SYNNESS, an IR sports writer and local sports historian, can be contacted at 449-2150 or email curt52s@msn.com.