THE GREATER LANSING AREA SPORTS HALL
OF FAME
INDUCTION CEREMONY
2017
Dan Stolz
Dan Stolz was a three year varsity player and two year All-State player for Okemos High School. He also earned four varsity letters in baseball and four varsity letters at Alma College in basketball. He was the MIAA basketball MVP one year and all-conference for three years.
He made an even bigger impact as a coach.
He won 429 games at Williamston High School and at Okemos High School as a basketball coach. In 2006, his Okemos team reached the Class A State Final Game and he also won a regional title in 2012.
He won 485 games as a softball coach and was also a successful Girls' tennis coach and golf coach.
I have always appreciated Coach Stolz personally as he gave me a lot of positive reinforcement during my first years of writing the Bleacher Denizen Blog. I had little experience interviewing coaches or at writing. He was always really patient and positive with me. He also shared some coaching insights that deepened my understanding of basketball. I'll always be grateful to him for this.
Also, I always felt that his Okemos basketball teams (even long before I started the blog) were always as good as his teams could be.
In his acceptance speech, Coach Stolz thanked Bob Every, the president of The Greater Lansing Area Sports Hall of Fame for all the work he does. He believes that the association does a lot to help the community come together.
He is grateful that he was able to spend his career doing what he was passionate about, coaching and teaching.
He thanked his athletes, coaches and administrators. His father and uncle were also really successful coaches and he cited them for helping him learn what to do. He thanked his wife for tolerating his schedule and also complimented the coaches who worked with him during his years of coaching.
I'd like to extend my personal congratulations to this fine man and thank him for all he has done for his athletes, his students and for me as a blogger!!
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