Stanley Nantais

Stanley (Red) Nantais '37 Athlete - Assumption Era Administrator/Builder/Coach

Stanley "Red" Nantais was born in Windsor, Ontario, on July 25,1913.

While at Assumption High School, he was selected to the first All-City Basketball Team ever picked by the Windsor Star. He later played on some excellent teams at Assumption College for Father Willie McGee. The 1933-34 team advanced to the Eastern Canadian semi-finals. The 1934-35 squad won the Ontario and Eastern Canadian Titles, prior to losing to Victoria Blue Ribbons in the Canadian Finals.

He played on the Windsor Ford V-8's who won the Canadian Senior Title and represented Canada in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin.

He played for Windsor Alumni in the 1938-39 season, they were Ontario Champions for the 12th time in 13 years. His final season as an active player was 1939-40, with the Windsor Alumni. They were Ontario champions, and semi-final losers at the Eastern Canadian playoffs.

In 1942 Stanley Nantais began a successful thirteen-year coaching stint at Assumption College. His teams won 201 and lost 146 games for a .726 winning percentage. His 1945-46 and 1946-47 Assumption College teams won the Ontario and Eastern Canadian Titles, but lost in the Canadian Finals, to Victoria Blue Ribbons in '45-56, and to the Vancouver Meralomas in '46-47. Assumption made it to the Eastern Canadian semi-finals in 1947-48. In 1948-49 Assumption was Ontario and Eastern Canadian Champions. There was no Canadian Finals that year.

His Assumption Collge teams defeated the Harlem Globetrotters twice, 55-51 in 1944, and 49-45 in 1945.

Nantais coached many great players at Assumption, such as Fred Thomas, Hank Biasatti, Gino Sovran, and Canadian Olympians Bill Coulthard, and Bob Simpson. He was Vice-President, Ontario Amateur Basketball Association in the 1940's and was inducted into the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame and the Windsor & Essex County Sports Hall of Fame.