After about two and a half years, the last necktie in Brian Fox’s collection had finally been tied.

The Kalispell Middle School seventh-grade American history teacher had worn a different necktie for 398 consecutive school days as part of a fun challenge to connect with his students. It was seventh-grader Kevin Haroldson who guessed exactly how many ties Fox would end on.

“It’s another way to connect with the students, get them engaged at school,” Fox said.

On Tuesday, a necktie was markedly absent from Fox’s outfit.

“I said if you ever see me with slacks and a dress shirt and no tie, then you’ll know the tie challenge has ended,” Fox said.

Fox brought out a step ladder to bring down the big pile of ties he stored on top of a filing cabinet in his classroom. Holding the pile with both arms, he stepped down and heaved the ties onto a desk. There were ties with all kinds of classic and off-beat prints — sunglasses-wearing cola cans and cacti, rubber ducks, flags, flowers, cartoon characters, boats, golfers, Civil War generals, geometric shapes, various birds and animals — and one of Fox’s favorites — a lunging tiger with claws bared menacingly and behind it a baby-blue background of what looked like large bubbles.

“It’s just funny that this mean tiger is pictured with bubbles,” Fox said. “There are so many crazy ties.”

The tie challenge rules were that Fox wouldn’t buy new ties. Instead, he would only wear ties given to him and would wear a tie each day without duplication.

Before the challenge, Fox didn’t wear ties. He started wearing ties about seven years ago in an attempt to look older when he began student teaching at Flathead High School. At the time, he was 22 and close in age to the 18-year-old seniors he was teaching. He asked his supervisor, Flathead history teacher Sean O’Donnell, what he could do to set himself apart from looking like a student.

“I remember being concerned that he was going to be stopped by the hall monitors for being out of class without a pass,” O’Donnell said. “He is polite enough that he might not have even argued with the hall monitor.”

O’Donnell encouraged him to wear ties.

“When I was hired at KMS my aunt gave me a box of ties. There were about 40 ties in there and I said, ‘Hey I’m going to wear every tie in this box.’ That was the first challenge,” Fox said.

The first challenge ended at 50, but the ties kept coming in. By his second or third year teaching he became known district-wide as the “tie guy.”

“From there on I have just been gifted ties by countless people, I have received ties anonymously through inter-school mail, from students, teachers, parents and so on,” Fox said. “Of the 398 ties that I own, I have purchased 10.”

“Who knows how many ties will accumulate over the next two and a half years,” he said.

Eventually, Fox would like to collect enough ties to give one to each student in the middle school. The middle school has an enrollment of 1,036 students. First, he has to think about where he will store 398 ties at home.

Reporter Hilary Matheson can be reached at 758-4431 or [email protected].

    Nearly 400 ties piled together in the classroom of seventh-grade history teacher Brian Fox at Kalispell Middle School. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)
  

    Seventh-grade history teacher Brian Fox at Kalispell Middle School with his collection of nearly 400 ties. Fox wore a different tie each day and has finally worn them all. Of the ties, Fox only purchased 10 of them. The rest have been gifts. (Brenda Ahearn photos/Daily Inter Lake)
  

    Nearly 400 ties piled together in the classroom of seventh-grade history teacher Brian Fox at Kalispell Middle School. The tie with the ducks was given to Fox by one of the school office staff members. They had told Fox it seemed like a tie for a father, and he wore it for the first time after his daughter was born. Torrance is now 8 months old.