CARLSBAD, Calif. - UW-Stout's most successful football coach, Tony Storti, died Jan. 23, in Carlsbad, Calif.
Storti coached the Stout State football team from 1948-51 and compiled a 21-9-2 overall record and led the team to the 1949 WSUC title.
Storti came to Stout as a student/athlete from Eveleth, Minn, and earned all-conference honors as a running back. His career at Stout was cut short by World War II. He did play football while at Camp Grant, gaining 178 yards rushing against the University of Minnesota, was named all-service fullback and played in Chicago's all-star game.
After the war, Storti played at the University of Delaware where the team was undefeated during his junior and senior years, 1946 and 1947, respectively.
Storti returned to Stout in 1948 where the team posted a 2-4-1 overall record. In 1949, the team was 6-2 and conference champions. The 1950 team finished 5-2-1 and the 1951 team was 7-1-0. In the previous 21 seasons before Storti arrived, Stout won only a combined 30 games.
Storti moved on Montana State College, where he served as head football coach and athletic director. His team's won four Big Sky Conference titles and his 1956 team, with a record of 9-0-1, was considered a national champion.
Storti left coaching after the 1957 season and moved his family to Arizona, and then to California. Storti was elected to the UW-Stout Hall of Fame in 1979 and to the Montana State Hall of Fame in 1998.
Storti is survived by his wife of 63 years, Norma.
