A’s President Scott Stangel Honored with Elks Distinguished Citizenship Award

Scott Stangel, who joined the Sheboygan Athletic Club in 2002 and has been a leader ever since, was presented with the Elks Distinguished Citizenship Award for “outstanding and meritorious service to humanity.”

The award was presented as part of the Elks Inauguration ceremony in April and it was certainly deserved. Service to others is a way of life for Scott Stangel. While he has served in a variety of capacities, the community has benefited most from his work with three organizations.

The Optimist Club
He was Club President for three terms and served two terms as Zone 11’s Lt. Governor. He chaired the Club’s Youth Activities Committee and also led a special committee charged with developing a plan for the updates to play equipment at Optimist Park in conjunction with the City of Sheboygan Parks Department. In addition, in his role as president, he spearheaded the drive for library books for kids in the community. He also worked with the Optimist fundraiser “back to basics” program for school supplies for kids.

First Congregational U.C.C.
A man of faith and commitment, Stangel served on his church’s Board of Christian Education, as Superintendent of Sunday School, on the Pastoral Relations Committee, served on and chaired the Trustees of Personnel & Finance, led fall stewardship drive several times, served on the church council including a year as vice-moderator and a year as moderator and now serves on Deacons of Membership/Care.

Sheboygan Athletic Club
After playing a significant role in the Sheboygan American Legion baseball program, including helping secure and successfully run the State American Legion Tournament in Sheboygan, Scott followed his son Eric, a talented infielder, to the A’s and became a solid volunteer for them. So solid in fact that he was elected club president in 2006 and has held the office ever since. He is a hands-on, work-boots leader moving mud before the games and sweeping up trash after games. He organizes the box office and souvenir stand and takes a more-than-regular turn to make certain they are staffed at every game.  He rarely misses park work day at the beginning and end of the season doing the grunt work when Wildwood Park is made ready for play and then made ready for winter.

And he doesn’t shy away from pounding on doors. His fundraising work with his church, with Optimists and as the coordinator of the Muscular Dystrophy fundraising telethon and golf outing has carried over. Scott is one of the chief fundraisers for the Sheboygan A’s. He led Wildwood Rally a few years ago to help pay for the new dugouts and netting project, runs the pizza sale and co-chairs the golf outing. And when he’s working in the box office and you walk up to the box office to buy a general admission ticket, you can expect his “you really ought to upgrade” speech.

Through his work at Quality State Oil, Stangel appeared on Green Bay television stations annually to raise money for the muscular dystrophy telethon.

His dedication to the Sheboygan Athletic Club is evidenced by the fact that he was nominated for the Chamber of Commerce Volunteer the Year Award but declined it because he heard the A’s were nominated and didn’t want to detract attention from his Club.

With sons, Kyle in Milwaukee and Eric in Kenosha, Scott and his wife Barb are empty nesters on Sheboygan’s north side.