University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Spirit of Generosity: Dr. Louis and Sally Stein Find New Ways to Support Bulldog Athletics
05.12.2020 | Athletics News
The excitement surrounding the start of the 2011-12 UNC Asheville men's basketball season was palpable, and Dr. Louis and Sally Stein were about to get their first taste of UNC Asheville Athletics.
After winning the 2011 Big South Tournament, expectations were high for the Bulldogs, and the opening of the state-of-the-art Kimmel Arena inside the Wilma M. Sherrill Center only heightened the anticipation. Even more, the Bulldogs welcomed the North Carolina Tar Heels to Asheville for a special and memorable home opener.
Louis had been a season-ticket holder at UNC. Now a retired mental health professional, Louis had gotten his medical degree from Wake Forest, and about 10 years later, he did some training in child psychology at UNC. He ended up moving to that area, and that was how he became involved with the Tar Heels.
Though he had lived in Asheville since 2000, Louis had not been to a UNC Asheville athletic event prior to the 2011 home opener. It wasn't until a friend of his and Sally's invited them to the opening game at Kimmel Arena against the Tar Heels.
From that point on, the Steins were Bulldog fans.
"It was a great experience. Everybody was polite and friendly," Louis said. "In the first half, it was a pretty close game. (The Bulldogs) were really quite skilled."
In fact, the Bulldogs held the lead at various points during that first half of action. The Tar Heels took a nine-point lead into halftime and ultimately won, 91-75, but the scrappy Bulldogs had left an impression on the Steins. The next season, they purchased season tickets and became fixtures at men's and women's basketball games.
"We're sports fans and we lived here, so it just seemed to make sense to find a home team," Sally said.
The Steins' relationship with the Bulldogs moved past just fandom about three years after that first game inside Kimmel Arena when then-women's basketball head coach Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick Brown addressed the crowd at a preseason event.
"Brenda said something to the effect of 'Our practices are open. Come any time,'" Louis said. "So just on a lark, I went to one, and I was really impressed by the amount of energy and the amount of thought that went into it."
And he kept going back. Through these appearances, he began to develop relationships with the coaches and student-athletes. The aspect keeping him interested in continuing to observe practices goes back to his work as a mental health professional.
"I've really been interested in the psychological aspect of sports," Louis said. "I appreciate how difficult it is to get people to work together, especially in a setting where the basic format is competition."
And as the Steins spent more time around the program, they began to become more invested, finding ways to help, such as contributing to travel budgets. It was an easy choice, Louis said, because it helped to benefit the student-athletes.
"When I got out here, I really had a sense that the school is doing it the right way," Louis said. "The vast majority of the people that are coming here for athletics are going to go out into the world and do something other than sports. So the idea that sports is a vehicle to get an education, grow as people and become productive citizens is very appealing to me."
When the women's basketball team hosted Appalachian State in the 2019 Women's Basketball Invitational Tournament, the Steins noticed something that upset them, but also got their gears turning.
"We saw Appalachian State's bus, and it outraged us that they had that big bus with their name all over it, and here they were in our area," Sally said. "We couldn't say who UNC Asheville was in that way, so it just made sense that it would be the perfect kind of advertisement, whether in town or across the whole southeast."
So they brought the idea of getting a bus wrapped for UNC Asheville Athletics to Betsy Blose, former Bulldog women's basketball head coach and current Special Assistant to Director of Athletics Janet R. Cone, who works in the athletics advancement office.
Blose did some digging, and came back to the Steins with what it would cost to get a custom bus wrap, proudly displaying UNC Asheville as the Bulldogs' athletic teams traveled to their next game, meet or match.
But it wasn't just seeing the Mountaineers' bus in the Kimmel Arena parking lot that got the idea started. Prior to tipoff of that game, Louis had a conversation with men's basketball head coach Mike Morrell, who had just finished his first season at the helm of the program. Morrell mentioned to Louis how increased visibility of the athletic department could be undeniably helpful in recruiting.
"I thought, 'What would be a good use for this money?'" Louis said. "It's not a ton of discretionary money, but what there is, given the resources that are here, maybe it will make some difference. That was really the thinking. It was really what Morrell said in that meeting that really crystalized it for me.
"Certainly, the visibility of the athletic department is a lead to the whole community."
So in partnership with Young Transportation and thanks to the generosity of Louis and Sally, the athletic department revealed a beautiful charter bus gleaming with UNC Asheville's Athletics and University logos on September 4, 2019.
"Lou often says it's the best money he ever spent," Sally said.
Just two months later, the Steins made the trip on that very bus with about 50 other donors up to Knoxville as the men's basketball team opened its season against the Tennessee Volunteers. It stands out as one Sally's favorite memories of supporting the Bulldogs.
For Louis, one of his fondest memories came in 2016 when the women's basketball team won its second consecutive Big South Tournament title as Bre Fitzgerald sunk two clutch free throws at the end of the game to seal it.
Both though, come back to that first game against the Tar Heels as their most memorable moment. It is, after all, the one that piqued their interest in the first place.
After the bus, the Steins wanted to find other projects they could help contribute to. With Louis' career in medicine, he became interested in finding ways to help Bulldog student-athletes in their rehab. The Steins recently committed a significant gift to go toward purchasing new equipment for the athletic training room.
"We've been thinking about how we want to in ways that are significant to us and to the University," Sally said. "Whether it's coach's salaries, an endowment fund or equipment for the training room. For us as donors, there seemed to be a lot of value to provide support that was specific to something they wanted and needed."
And the Steins have designated a planned gift in their estate plan to continue to support the student-athletes, coaches and staff of Bulldog Athletics.
"This University is going to continue to do things the right way," Louis said. "And as long as they do that, we'll continue to offer our support."
Â
Â
Â
Â
After winning the 2011 Big South Tournament, expectations were high for the Bulldogs, and the opening of the state-of-the-art Kimmel Arena inside the Wilma M. Sherrill Center only heightened the anticipation. Even more, the Bulldogs welcomed the North Carolina Tar Heels to Asheville for a special and memorable home opener.
Louis had been a season-ticket holder at UNC. Now a retired mental health professional, Louis had gotten his medical degree from Wake Forest, and about 10 years later, he did some training in child psychology at UNC. He ended up moving to that area, and that was how he became involved with the Tar Heels.
Though he had lived in Asheville since 2000, Louis had not been to a UNC Asheville athletic event prior to the 2011 home opener. It wasn't until a friend of his and Sally's invited them to the opening game at Kimmel Arena against the Tar Heels.
From that point on, the Steins were Bulldog fans.
"It was a great experience. Everybody was polite and friendly," Louis said. "In the first half, it was a pretty close game. (The Bulldogs) were really quite skilled."
In fact, the Bulldogs held the lead at various points during that first half of action. The Tar Heels took a nine-point lead into halftime and ultimately won, 91-75, but the scrappy Bulldogs had left an impression on the Steins. The next season, they purchased season tickets and became fixtures at men's and women's basketball games.
"We're sports fans and we lived here, so it just seemed to make sense to find a home team," Sally said.
The Steins' relationship with the Bulldogs moved past just fandom about three years after that first game inside Kimmel Arena when then-women's basketball head coach Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick Brown addressed the crowd at a preseason event.
"Brenda said something to the effect of 'Our practices are open. Come any time,'" Louis said. "So just on a lark, I went to one, and I was really impressed by the amount of energy and the amount of thought that went into it."
And he kept going back. Through these appearances, he began to develop relationships with the coaches and student-athletes. The aspect keeping him interested in continuing to observe practices goes back to his work as a mental health professional.
"I've really been interested in the psychological aspect of sports," Louis said. "I appreciate how difficult it is to get people to work together, especially in a setting where the basic format is competition."
And as the Steins spent more time around the program, they began to become more invested, finding ways to help, such as contributing to travel budgets. It was an easy choice, Louis said, because it helped to benefit the student-athletes.
"When I got out here, I really had a sense that the school is doing it the right way," Louis said. "The vast majority of the people that are coming here for athletics are going to go out into the world and do something other than sports. So the idea that sports is a vehicle to get an education, grow as people and become productive citizens is very appealing to me."
When the women's basketball team hosted Appalachian State in the 2019 Women's Basketball Invitational Tournament, the Steins noticed something that upset them, but also got their gears turning.
"We saw Appalachian State's bus, and it outraged us that they had that big bus with their name all over it, and here they were in our area," Sally said. "We couldn't say who UNC Asheville was in that way, so it just made sense that it would be the perfect kind of advertisement, whether in town or across the whole southeast."
So they brought the idea of getting a bus wrapped for UNC Asheville Athletics to Betsy Blose, former Bulldog women's basketball head coach and current Special Assistant to Director of Athletics Janet R. Cone, who works in the athletics advancement office.
Blose did some digging, and came back to the Steins with what it would cost to get a custom bus wrap, proudly displaying UNC Asheville as the Bulldogs' athletic teams traveled to their next game, meet or match.
But it wasn't just seeing the Mountaineers' bus in the Kimmel Arena parking lot that got the idea started. Prior to tipoff of that game, Louis had a conversation with men's basketball head coach Mike Morrell, who had just finished his first season at the helm of the program. Morrell mentioned to Louis how increased visibility of the athletic department could be undeniably helpful in recruiting.
"I thought, 'What would be a good use for this money?'" Louis said. "It's not a ton of discretionary money, but what there is, given the resources that are here, maybe it will make some difference. That was really the thinking. It was really what Morrell said in that meeting that really crystalized it for me.
"Certainly, the visibility of the athletic department is a lead to the whole community."
So in partnership with Young Transportation and thanks to the generosity of Louis and Sally, the athletic department revealed a beautiful charter bus gleaming with UNC Asheville's Athletics and University logos on September 4, 2019.
Just two months later, the Steins made the trip on that very bus with about 50 other donors up to Knoxville as the men's basketball team opened its season against the Tennessee Volunteers. It stands out as one Sally's favorite memories of supporting the Bulldogs.
For Louis, one of his fondest memories came in 2016 when the women's basketball team won its second consecutive Big South Tournament title as Bre Fitzgerald sunk two clutch free throws at the end of the game to seal it.
Both though, come back to that first game against the Tar Heels as their most memorable moment. It is, after all, the one that piqued their interest in the first place.
After the bus, the Steins wanted to find other projects they could help contribute to. With Louis' career in medicine, he became interested in finding ways to help Bulldog student-athletes in their rehab. The Steins recently committed a significant gift to go toward purchasing new equipment for the athletic training room.
"We've been thinking about how we want to in ways that are significant to us and to the University," Sally said. "Whether it's coach's salaries, an endowment fund or equipment for the training room. For us as donors, there seemed to be a lot of value to provide support that was specific to something they wanted and needed."
And the Steins have designated a planned gift in their estate plan to continue to support the student-athletes, coaches and staff of Bulldog Athletics.
"This University is going to continue to do things the right way," Louis said. "And as long as they do that, we'll continue to offer our support."
Â
Â
Â
Â
Postgame Interview UNC Asheville vs. Longwood 03/06/2026
Wednesday, March 18
UNC Asheville Men's Basketball Postgame Interview - 03/07
Wednesday, March 11
Highlights || Men's Basketball vs USC Upstate
Friday, February 06
Ribbon Cutting || Golf Indoor Practice Facility
Monday, January 12