By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
Peter van Paassen never thought of Andy Stinson as a walk-on during their three years as St. Bonaventure men’s basketball teammates.
“One thing about Andy, he could jump. He would dunk on you if he had the chance,” Van Paassen, one of the stars of the Bonnies’ 2000 NCAA Tournament team, recalled with a laugh. “We took him serious.”
Stinson, who led the Corning West High School team to the 1998 New York State Final Four, enrolled at St. Bonaventure for the 1998-99 school year and quickly bonded with Van Paassen, then a sophomore. The two roomed together on road trips, hung out on campus and spent time in Stinson’s hometown over summer breaks. They played ball at the YMCA in the evenings, after Van Paassen finished his day interning at Corning Incorporated and Stinson was done student teaching.
They both loved the game, devoting much of their time to training and practice, but the off-court conversations often centered around the future. Stinson, who double-majored in business administration and finance, made known his aspirations to be a family man. He hoped for a good career, a nice house, a loving wife and kids.
Those goals, to Stinson, meant leaving the team before his senior year to focus on academics. He needed 35 credits to graduate on time that May and needed a stellar grade-point average to be accepted into grad school, so the time commitment became too demanding. He graduated on time and went on to earn his master’s degree at Bonaventure in 2003.
Stinson, well-liked by his teammates and coaches, kept in touch. Van Paassen, a standout professional player in Belgium, Spain and back home in the Netherlands, watched his friend achieve nearly everything he set out to do.
Stinson led a successful career in the commodities industry, becoming a senior manager for PepsiCo in 2019. He married his wife Alison in 2009 and the couple had two children, Lia and Logan.
The life Stinson had dreamt of as an 18-year-old came to fruition, which made the news of his passing last Sunday at the age of 40 even more crushing to those who knew and loved him. Stinson died surrounded by family after battling glioblastoma, an aggressive grade 4 brain tumor that spread in 2020 and left him unable to communicate.
“Andy was just one of those guys, he got along with everybody,” Van Paassen said. “He connected with everyone on the team, because he was so laid-back and easy-going and intelligent. That was probably the one thing that stood out the first thing when you meet Andy, was it was so good to be around him because he was such a mellow guy.”
Bona typically employs guards as walk-ons, so then-sports information director Steve Mest enjoyed watching Stinson challenge the team’s talented frontcourt.
“He was a Jim Baron-type kid– a kid who was unselfish and just loved being a part of the team,” Mest recalled. “Andy was also memorable because most walk-ons are guards, but Andy was a 6-6 forward; he’d be out there on the floor in practice getting banged by our post players like Peter and Caswell Cyrus and loving every minute of it.”
Stinson saw game action 13 times as a Bonnie, including a substitution at the end of the team’s double-overtime NCAA Tournament loss to Kentucky. He scored seven collegiate points and brought in eight rebounds in 35 minutes.
But everyone knew the 1998 Star Gazette High School Player of the Year’s game performance, which usually came during a lopsided victory or defeat, was a footnote to his contributions.
“His value to the team, it was the way he was always level as a person,” Van Paassen commented. “He would work in practice knowing he probably wasn’t going to get any minutes, but also, a lot of times your mood can go up or go down depending on if you won the last game or lost… his was always the same.
“If you have someone who’s down the bench and not one of the go-to guys but he doesn’t get too carried away by wins or losses and next practice he’s there again doing his job, competing, maybe looking to dunk on you if he gets the chance, it lifts the entire mindset of the team up.”
Support for the Stinson family has poured in from friends, acquaintances and Bona alumni through a GoFundMe that has raised more than $40,000. The fundraiser serves as more proof of the impact Stinson had on those he came in contact with.
“Andy did not say much but he had a quiet presence,” Mest said. “I just felt he was a good person, a young man I respected who would certainly go on to lead a successful, fulfilling life.
“It’s heartbreaking for me to think about his wife and kids. Such a shame, to have a life cut so short.”
Leave a Reply