MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[almcguirejr]

  I believe he has taught at Holland Christian and worked with Glen since back then. 

Matt Neill teaches in the middle school at Holland Public.

[hopefan]

Thanks almc  ---  I knew it was one of 'em

[sac]

Don't forget Dan Stolz of Alma either, current Okemos H.S. Head Coach who's team may be headed for a State Class A championship this weekend.

Dan Stolz..........wasn't he the guy  coaching Okemos when I was 11.    He's been there awhile.........if I'm not mistaken he was at the helm when Okemos won a couple back to back titles in the early 80's.  They've always been good.

Stan Stolz was the coach at Okemos back in the 80's if my memory serves me correctly.
I think Stan's brother Denny was the football coach at MSU in the seventy's before some recruiting irregularities cropped up.

I don't know if Dan is related to either Stan or Denny.

I stand corrected........Stan and Dan are too close in sound.......no wonder I thought they were the same guy.





My Klunder story..........as a Freshman at Hope I ended up in a pickup game with many guys who I did not know were players on the Hope team.........how nieve.   I remember Dan Klunder pulling up from about 28 feet on me and swishing it.       Pretty much knew then I was out of my league.

I also remember being on a 2 on 0 fast break with Wade Gugino and despite being in front of him I tossed it back to let him dunk it. 

I didn't want to show up the new Freshman stud. 

[goodknight]

All this nostalgia is getting to me.
I'm from the pre-Veenstra era (that would be Mark, not Jeremy), so I watched Brady play (always with my mouth open...he was the finest athlete I had ever seen in person at that stage of my life).
Mike Phelps was a great shooter, but he had some help during his time at Calvin.  Eddie Wiers was a very effective slasher and Doug Taatjes cleaned up missed shots with the best of them and had a nice fade-away left handed baseline shot that Mark Veenstra later perfected.  Not suggesting that Wiers or Taatjes were All-MIAA first team material, but, oh my, could the 2006-07 Knights use a couple of studs in their mold.

[Sturdevant]

I would imagine he will be Glen's replacement when retirement time comes.....

hopefan... for some reason people on here get upset when you mention Glen and retirement....  i think it will come sooner than most, but i'll guarantee Neil isn't his replacement

[Outnthewoodsman]

Sturd,
you speak with such confidence.....you must be on the inside track here?  Or is that just your opinion.

[Stinger]

Stan Stolz coached Okemos up until about 1995 or so, and then his son, Dan took over. Both are class people.  I played against Okemos for four years against some great teams with guys like Jon Njus and Jeff/Dan Wendt and Adam Quiring.  Great program, but you always love to beat them.

I caught some quaterfinal action on Tuesday. Flint Southwestern Academy could be the best team in the state regardless of class. They are very, very good.  I can't see Renaissance, Godwin Heights, or East having a chance.  I would love to see the Jonathon Jones, Kalin Lucas matchup tonight.

[kcrest]

Don't forget Dan Stolz of Alma either, current Okemos H.S. Head Coach who's team may be headed for a State Class A championship this weekend.

Dan Stolz..........wasn't he the guy  coaching Okemos when I was 11.    He's been there awhile.........if I'm not mistaken he was at the helm when Okemos won a couple back to back titles in the early 80's.  They've always been good.

Stan Stolz was the coach at Okemos back in the 80's if my memory serves me correctly.
I think Stan's brother Denny was the football coach at MSU in the seventy's before some recruiting irregularities cropped up.

I don't know if Dan is related to either Stan or Denny.

I stand corrected........Stan and Dan are too close in sound.......no wonder I thought they were the same guy.





My Klunder story..........as a Freshman at Hope I ended up in a pickup game with many guys who I did not know were players on the Hope team.........how nieve.   I remember Dan Klunder pulling up from about 28 feet on me and swishing it.       Pretty much knew then I was out of my league.

I also remember being on a 2 on 0 fast break with Wade Gugino and despite being in front of him I tossed it back to let him dunk it. 

I didn't want to show up the new Freshman stud. 

I played pick-up ball one time as a Calvin student against Mark Hoogewind (played with Mark Veenstra and was first-team All-MIAA in 1975).  Hoogewind was probably 27 or 28 at the time - an old guy.     First time down he pulled from about 25 feet or so.  Nothing but net.  Okay, I figure, old guy can shoot a little.  Better get up on him.  Next time down I pick him up at 30 feet and he blows by me for a lay-up.  Yikes.  From there to 15 baskets he alternated hitting 25-footers, making lay-ups and dishing to teammates for easy hoops.  Later on someone told me who I was "guarding" and I felt a little better.   

[oldknight]

Stan Stolz coached Okemos up until about 1995 or so, and then his son, Dan took over. Both are class people.  I played against Okemos for four years against some great teams with guys like Jon Njus and Jeff/Dan Wendt and Adam Quiring.  Great program, but you always love to beat them.

Thanks for the correction stinger; apparently my memory of those well-coached Stan Stolz teams were those good high school squads he had during the 80's.

[formerd3db]

sac, oldknight and stinger:

Stan Stolz indeed coached at Okemos H.S. for many years, but his brother Denny was the Head Football Coach there before he went to MSU as an assistant and eventually became head coach for the Spartans.  At Alma, he had great undefeated championship football teams in the late '60's, inlcuding many standout players from the Lansing area who are still in the area (John Fuzak, Keith Froelich former Okemos H.S. Head Football coach, etc., etc).  At MSU, the fb scandal was not the fault of Denny but unfortunately due to some assistants and boosters.  Since Denny was the h.c., he was the one who took the fall.  However, he went on to success at Bowling Green and eventually San Diego State even winning the WAC his first year there.  Denny, BTW, is an Alma grad and was an All-MIAA QB.

His nephew Dan (who is Stan's son) played bb at Alma.  You are correct that the Head coach then was William "Colonel" Bill Klenk, who was also Head Baseball coach for many years and a standout player at Alma in fb, bb, baseball himself and a great man himself.  I got to know Dan back then as my brother played two sports at Alma.  Dan was a great player at Alma, one of his best friends and teammates was Dave Froelich, younger brother of Keith mentioned above.  The Stolzs and Klenk are in the Alma College Athletic Hall of Fame.  Dan Stolz is one of the nicest guys you would ever meet.  I wish him and his team the best in the state semi-finals tonight in their quest for his first state bb championship as head coach.

I'm sure many of the other DIII conferences have as great stories as these, but certainly our MIAA is among the leaders of such.  It is great to see where many of our former MIAA'ers end up around our state.  Indeed it is a small world at times!  Thanks for the further discussion.

[sac]

Speaking of small worlds..........kcrest, I believe I've played golf with Mr Hoogewind a number of times in my Kent County Amateur tournament days.  Nice guy and a very good player.

One year his alignment was so screwed up he was literally puting the club on the ground to align himself on every shot.......not something you see much even in amateur golf tournaments.  I had no idea he was a former Calvin hooper, ........of course with all the dutch names around GR I suppose it not entirely impossible there is more than one Mark Hoogewind.

I also was paired up with a Calvin player from the early 90's who's name escapes me.........I knew his face and name were familiar but I couldn't place him........and finally asked, when he mentioned he played at Calvin we of course had much to discuss........, he had just moved back to GR after finishing medical school.


.......and I'm retired from amateur golf competition. 

[oldknight]

Sac:  The golfer you played with is the same person who played point for Calvin, and was 2 grades ahead of Mark Veenstra. From a pure ball handling point of view Mark Hoogewind was the best guard I ever saw play for the Knights, an outstanding passer, and a very good outside shooter. I saw him play numerous times, he rarely made a turnover and I never saw him lose the ball on the dribble. He was pretty indifferent about playing defense though.

[Dark Knight]

Anyone remember Art Tuls, some kind of cousin of the current Mr. Basketball, nephew of Butts Kool?

He played at Calvin a little before Mark Veenstra's time. He was a terrific passer. If memory serves, in the pre-game warmup he would stand center court and pass left and right, up and down, behind his back, through his legs, to other players who would then be in position to shoot or lay it in.

If memory serves, he also led Calvin to a victory with a 40-point performance once (over Hope, not that it matters  )

[Bob MacKenzie]

Anyone remember Art Tuls, some kind of cousin of the current Mr. Basketball, nephew of Butts Kool?

He played at Calvin a little before Mark Veenstra's time. He was a terrific passer. If memory serves, in the pre-game warmup he would stand center court and pass left and right, up and down, behind his back, through his legs, to other players who would then be in position to shoot or lay it in.

If memory serves, he also led Calvin to a victory with a 40-point performance once (over Hope, not that it matters  )

I never saw Art Tuls, but some of my friends who grew up in GRusalem and saw him when they were kids still speak of him in awe.  Must have been a little like a Globetrotters show in the pregame.

[oldknight]

Art Tuls was mighty flashy and a real crowd pleaser. He also led Calvin to a win over Dan Roundfield's (later an NBA star with the Hawks) Central Michigan Chippewas at the Fieldhouse. It was after that win that CMU realized that it didn't do their D1 program any good to play Calvin at Knollcrest. I think the last time the two schools met was the following year up at Mt. Pleasant when Mark Veenstra and Ben Poquette were freshmen at their respective schools.