Former Major League All-Star David Stenhouse Dies at 90

Former Major League All-Star David Stenhouse Dies at 90

The family of Rhode Island native and former baseball great David Stenhouse announced his death this weekend.

Mike Stenhouse, wrote on social media:

RIP Dad. We will always love you. What an amazing 90 years you gave to our family, to Cranston, and to RI. We have been so blessed.

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For those who didn't know him ... we lost a true star this morning.

An inductee into the RI Heritage Hall of Fame, his life and his long record of accomplishment exemplified the American Dream. Born into a working-class family, he was a standout Westerly High School baseball and basketball athlete, and would later earn All-American honors at URI. He went on to have a 13-year professional baseball career, including three years in the major leagues with the Washington Senators. In 1962, he made history as the very first rookie pitcher to start a Major League All-Star Game.

A Veteran and former Army Reservist, and even while he was building a successful business career and company in the insurance industry, he served as head baseball coach during the 80’s at Brown University and at RI College for 12 years prior, where led one of his clubs to the Division III Final Four. He is also an inductee into the URI, RIC, and Westerly athletic halls of fame. Most notably, as a member of its hall of fame, “Sten” was the first ever RI athlete to win awards in all major categories from Words Unlimited; 1951 RI Schoolboy Athlete of the Year, 1961 RI Athlete of the Year, and 1983 RI Coach of the Year.

He additionally coached an American Legion baseball team and co-founded the CLCF basketball program in Cranston as well as the RI Baseball Institute in Warwick.

The once Cub-master enjoyed playing the piano, red wine, traveling to Europe, and golfing as a member of the Warwick Country Club, where he chaired annual fundraising golf tournaments that raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for The Jimmy Fund, and earning its “Jimmy Award” in 2002.

I will miss you dearly ... xox

 

The Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame wrote about Stenhouse upon his induction:

David R. Stenhouse’s well-rounded career includes playing high school, college, and professional sports; college coaching, business, fundraising; and community service. For his athletic attainments, he has been inducted into the University of Rhode Island and the Rhode Island College Halls of Fame.

A native of Westerly, Dave was a star athlete at Westerly High School before enrolling at URI in 1951 on a baseball and basketball scholarship. As basketball co-captain, he was named to all-conference and all-New England honors and became a member of the prestigious 1000-Point Club. He also enjoyed a record-setting four-year varsity baseball career. Dave earned a degree in industrial engineering and later became president of the URI Century Club, an alumni athletics fundraising organization.

In 1962, Dave became the first rookie pitcher in major league baseball history to start an All-Star game. His pro career spanned fourteen years, culminating in a three- year stint with the Washington Senators.
After service in the United States Army Reserves, Dave began a career in the insurance industry in 1966 and co-founded The Insurance Center, a successful financial planning company. Dave has contributed significantly to his community. He founded and then directed the basketball program of the Cranston League for Cranston’s Future, served for three decades as a lector for St. Paul’s Church in Cranston, was cubmaster for Pack 41, and founded the Jimmy Fund Council Golf Tournament in 1993. This tourney has raised over $400,000 for the Dana Farber Institute, earning Dave the 2002 “Jimmy Award.”

In 1968, Dave was named baseball coach at Rhode Island College. His teams won over 200 games in 12 years. He moved to the Ivy League in 1980, becoming baseball coach for Brown University. While recording 170 wins for the Bruins in ten years, he also became president of the New England College Baseball Coaches Association.

Dave is the only Rhode Island athlete to win awards in all major categories from Words Unlimited: he was named RI Schoolboy Athlete (1951); RI Athlete of the Year (1961); and RI Coach of the Year (1983) by the local sportswriters.

Dave married his college sweetheart, Phyllis DeBiasio (his “biggest accomplishment”). They celebrated their 50th anniversary in February 2007. Their two sons, Michael and David were also sports standouts. Mike was a baseball All-American at Harvard and enjoyed a five-year major league career. David was an All-American at Holy Cross who also played professional baseball.