Nate Loenser

[Lamoni]

Nate Loenser is the guy who was on Hoiberg’s staff who had one hand and he is now an assistant with the Bulls.

Did you know he played a season of baseball at Iowa State!?! I heard that today and it blew my mind. He only had one career plate appearance (walk), pinch ran, and was a backup outfielder. You’ve got to be a pretty amazing athlete to play D1 baseball with only one arm.

He told this story on a podcast today:
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/moonlightgrahamshow/NateLoenserFinal.mp3

 

[IceCyIce]

I’m just replying to see if my post gets listed in the replies

 

[IceCyIce]

Yep it did

 

[CyTwins]

Nate's one of the best guys in the industry

 

[clone52]

I remember him as a fantastic baseball player in high school. Was a little older than me

 

[GMackey32]

I remember him as a fantastic baseball player in high school. Was a little older than me

He was high school buddies with my neighbor growing up and was always over at my neighbors house. It’s crazy seeing someone you interacted with as a kid reach those heights.

 

[GrindingAway]

Nate was by far the best at running the father son basketball camps at Iowa State. Tremendous energy, great personality the kids loved him. I can still remember hear him him yell "work on your left, I would but God didn't give me one" during ball handling drills.

 

[Rabbuk]

How did he bat? Not trying to be insensitive just curious.

 

[clone52]

How did he bat? Not trying to be insensitive just curious.

Pretty well. Used his left arm to balance the bat if I remember right. Good basketball player too.

 

[moforisu]

Great athlete, great guy. Maybe a future ISU BB coach?

 

[BCClone]

Nate Loenser is the guy who was on Hoiberg’s staff who had one hand and he is now an assistant with the Bulls.

Did you know he played a season of baseball at Iowa State!?! I heard that today and it blew my mind. He only had one career plate appearance (walk), pinch ran, and was a backup outfielder. You’ve got to be a pretty amazing athlete to play D1 baseball with only one arm.

He told this story on a podcast today:
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/moonlightgrahamshow/NateLoenserFinal.mp3

Was he missing a hand or the whole arm? Couldn’t tell from your post.

 

[mj4cy]

How did he bat? Not trying to be insensitive just curious.

Was thinking the same thing TBH so you're good. Didn't come off as insensitive.

 

[cyclonepower]

He was great at football, basketball, and baseball in high school

 

[Lamoni]

He was born missing his left hand. I believe he batted one-handed from the left side.

Check out this picture of him in an ISU uniform. Pretty incredible story.

 

[VeloClone]

https://nbacoaches.com/nate-loenser-chicago-bulls-assistant-coach-and-remarkable-overachiever/

 

[kcclones]

My son was born with the exact same thing. Plays baseball/basketball/soccer. When your born with something like this it drives you to prove people wrong. Awesome to see.

 

[VeloClone]

My son was born with the exact same thing. Plays baseball/basketball/soccer. When your born with something like this it drives you to prove people wrong. Awesome to see.

I work with a guy born with one arm ending just past his elbow. He told me about how his father had helped him growing up. As a young kid he would encounter a problem - tying his shoes for example - and his father would work on it for a few hours or few days and figure it out then come back to him with a solution to teach him. It took several years of working with him before I finally came up with something he couldn't do. I asked him how he buttoned the buttons on his sleeve after putting on his shirt. He said that was the one thing he had never been able to solve and had to button them before putting on the shirt. Dude has adapted to his condition so well that I often forget that he has any sort of disability whatsoever.

I used to work with a fire inspector who had lost part of one arm in the line of duty. Whenever someone would ask him how he lost it though, he would always just say one time someone asked, "Who wants a helicopter ride?" Then he promptly raises what is left of his arm straight up above his head.

 

[Clonefan32]

Wow-- how cool! My now 3 year old daughter was born without a fibula or ankle bone and had her right leg amputated when she was 1, so I'm a natural sucker for success stories like this.

 

[Lamoni]

My son was born with the exact same thing. Plays baseball/basketball/soccer. When your born with something like this it drives you to prove people wrong. Awesome to see.

Loenser had a quote that went something like, "I didn't like track or soccer because that's what the one-armed person was supposed to do." I was blown away by that. What an amazing story.

 

[WisconsinCy2001]

Went to High School with him - now I'm curious who his HS buddy was that he hung out with @GMackey32 . Small school, maybe 55 in the class. He's a class act all the way, played tuba, cello, I believe he led the metro area in interceptions on the football team. I played him one-on-one a few times - I did not end up on top of those contests. Super nice guy, ISU fan from birth, glad to see him have success.