Sports Editor, Tipton Conserative
IOWA CITY — Though it was a business trip for Lowden native Stan Stolte, it felt like a home game when his UNLV baseball team came to Iowa the weekend of March 31-April 2 to play the Iowa Hawkeyes. The Stolte name is well known in the county and their contributions to the game of baseball in the Lowden area. As many as 70 Cedar County residents came out to see their native son. That support did not go unnoticed by Stolte.
“It was neat seeing a lot of familiar faces,” said Stolte. “They are some of the best people. I’m biased, I grew up here, but the people back home are great. It’s always nice to see,” he said.
Stolte comes back a couple times a year as he has family still in Cedar County.
“I come back a couple times of year. My mom still lives in Lowden. I have to get back a couple times a year. It keeps me grounded,” he said.
Three decades ago, Stan Stolte enjoyed success coaching baseball on diamonds in Lowden, Olin, Mechanicsville, and Bennett.
He is still a successful baseball coach, but now he is doing it in larger ball parks with more than a Mid-East Conference championship at stake. These days you will find Stolte on diamonds in San Diego, Phoenix, Lubbock, Texas, and his home turf at Earl E. Wilson Stadium in Las Vegas.
Stolte is in his second season as head coach at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. His Rebels, members of the Division I Mountain West Conference, played a three-game nonconference series against the University of Iowa at Duane Banks Field in Iowa City. It was a homecoming for Stolte, who grew up in Lowden and graduated from Clarence-Lowden High School, Muscatine Community College and St. Ambrose College.
The way of life in Lowden, Iowa, and Las Vegas, Nevada, seems light years apart, but Stolte has thrived in both environments.
“I figured I’d graduate and get on with life,’’ Stolte said. “I’ve been very fortunate to have a wonderful career. Baseball has been good to me and I’ve been fortunate to be part of the college game for some time now.’’
Stolte began his coaching career at Clarence-Lowden, winning 110 of 155 games and four district titles with one trip to the Class state tournament in. He coached collegiately at Northwest Missouri State, Muscatine Community College, University of the Pacific, and University of Nevada-Reno before beginning at UNLV as associate head coach in the summer of 2010. His primary area of expertise was recruiting and working with pitchers.
Overall, Stolte has sent 15 players to the Major Leagues and has developed 18 All-Americans. Eighty-five of his players have signed professional contracts and he saw 28 of his pitchers named to all-conference teams.
“The college level in this game is unique. I’ve always enjoyed having the chance to see players grow and develop and hopefully have a positive influence on them,’’ Stolte said.
“What we do is bigger than baseball. Very few guys are going to be doing baseball for a living, so part of our job is to prepare them for life.’’
Stolte was promoted to head coach in May of 2016 who had been the acting coach after then UNLV head coach , Tim Chambers, resigned mid-season.
The Rebels lost all three games to the Hawkeyes, including a change of schedule due to incoming weather Sunday, making Saturday a doubleheader. The Rebels fought hard in all three games and led late in both games Saturday before giving up the lead late. The Rebels were 10-17 before their series with Iowa. As of Tuesday, April 11 they are 12-22 and 6-9 in the Mountain West Conference.
“We’ve played everyone tough. We are young and we have been in a lot of games, we just haven’t played consistently this year. We have lost a lot of leads late in games and that is partly do to our youth,” he said. UNLV beat then No. 7 Cal-State Fullerton in February and nearly upset No. 3 Texas Tech before losing the lead in the 10th inning of a 5-4 loss.
Stolte said that future success will lie in recruiting and he is excited for the challenge of keeping more local players at home.
“We are going to have to keep the local kids home. There is a lot of talent in the Las Vegas area. We do well in Vegas and get some players, but we want to get more of them. We recruit mainly Arizona, Nevada and Southern California. It’s a challenge and a tough business,” he said. The Rebels have a strong 2017 class and a good start to the 2018 recruiting class.
Stolte’s staff includes Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux. The former, Cub, Brave and Dodger joined the UNLV staff as a volunteer assistant and pitching coach last fall. Maddux was an 8-time MLB All-Star, 4-time Cy Young award winner and had 3,371 career strikeouts. He won a World Series title with Atlanta in 1995.
“The kids have been receptive. It’s been great. Within 2-3 days he was just one of us. He’s just as normal as someone who you would go out and get a drink with. The kids love him. HIs knowledge of the game is unbelievable. He makes everyone around him better. He sees the game through a different set of eyes,” said Stolte.
Iowa will make a return trip to Las Vegas next season.
Stolte is the son of Virjean and the late Larry Stolte of Lowden. His father was the founder of the Lowden Indees independent semi-pro baseball team and longtime caretaker of the baseball complex at Lowden Memorial Park.
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