Stan Weston: The Man Behind Phil Welch

Long before a team can step on a field to play a baseball game, someone is behind the scenes perfectly mowing, chalking and raking the grounds to ensure the field is in top shape for a game.

Here at Phil Welch Stadium Stan Weston, director of stadium operations, is that person. As one of the groundskeepers at Phil Welch, Weston’s main responsibility is making sure the field is game-ready each and every gameday. 

Weston has been with the Mustangs since 2016 after working with the city’s Parks Department, but his story at Phil Welch starts way before that, going back to the 1960s. 

“They used to play the NAIA National Tournament here every year, and a bunch of us would come over…we’d sit until midnight or whenever the game was over…and we’d come back the next night and do it again,” Weston said. “That’s one of my first memories of this place, just being here watching big-time baseball.”

Weston then continued to make memories at Phil Welch for years to come, playing summer, high school and college ball on the field he now is in charge of maintaining. 

“This [place] is so important to me. I’ve played a lot of ball here and been here a long time, so [I’ve made] pretty good memories here,” Weston said.

Now, most nights you can find Weston enjoying some BBQ out by the party deck, watching the game, but this reward doesn’t come without a long day of prepping the field. The monstrous task of maintaining a baseball field isn’t one a person can tackle alone. Weston has the support and assistance of many Mustangs staff members, including Greg Dunlap, volunteer groundskeeper. 

“We’ve done a lot more together than just work,” Dunlap said. “We’d go to Colorado skiing several times in the winters and got to know him and his family much better.” 

Weston and Dunlap have known each other since the 1970s, when their professional relationship began at Lafayette High School while Weston was coaching and Dunlap was teaching. Since then, the two have remained friends and worked together, completing odd jobs here and there and also working at Phil Welch, making sure players and fans have a pristine field to enjoy the game. 

The most notable project the pair collaborated on was for Midwest Adaptive Sports, an organization Weston created to give better sporting opportunities to children with special needs.

Weston’s love for sports pushed him to create the organization so he could share that joy with those who don’t always get the chance to play sports. 

“Stan creates a lot of the [activities we do with them]. A lot of people think an adaptive or a special needs kid can’t do things, but those kids can do just about everything I can do,” Dunlap said. 

As for Weston’s future at Phil Welch, he says he hasn’t thought of when he will hang up his rake and park the mower for the last time, but he looks forward to making more memories and continuing to make his mark at a place that holds a special place in his life.

- Morgan Albrecht