Milwaukee Wave defender Stuart Grable of Neenah is quietly dependable | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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Apr 23, 2024

He’s not the flashy star who’s averaged two goals a game for a decade and a half the way Ian Bennett has.

He’s not the fiery giant that Andre Hayne can be. He’s not Max Ferdinand, so recognizable with his distinctive head gear and thousand-watt smile. He’s not the bulldog in the bright jersey punching away Milwaukee Wave opponents’ shots left and right the way William Banahene does.

Stuart Grable also isn’t an assistant manager at Abercrombie & Fitch in Oshkosh or an associate at a video store.

“I haven’t logged into my LinkedIn in years,” he conceded when reminded what his profile there says.

“Holy cow.”

No, more than a decade after his most recent update – graduate of UW-Green Bay with a degree in business administration and marketing – Grable is a busy youth soccer coach, world-class uncle, mediocre gamer and the gritty, dependable defender the Wave needs.

“He’s the guy you want on your team,” said Tony Walls, a teammate on and off since their club days. “One of those guys that can kind of do everything.

Grable, 34 and in his eighth season with the Wave, was a part of the most recent championship-winning team in 2018-19.

Still, relatively speaking he’s largely been in the background. So who is he?

A star at Neenah High School, Grable was a member of the Rockets’ 2007 WIAA Division 1 championship team. Then he played four years at UWGB, including on the 2009 NCAA tournament team, and was the captain as a senior. It was with the Phoenix that Grable committed himself to defense.

“Honestly I’m just a hardworking kid, man,” Grable said. “I love to play. I’ll do the dirty work. I don’t mind sliding, getting in the way of shots.

“Growing up, everybody on this team was the best player on their club team, their youth team, and the higher you go, the better the quality is, the better the players around you get. I found that role. I realized I’m not the guy. There are guys around me that can finish better than me, that can take guys on better than I can. So my job is to keep my team in possession and do a good job defensively.”

Grable had a few pro tryouts out of college, including one with the Wave, but none of them led anywhere. He had thought about being a firefighter, like his father, or a physical education teacher, but his true passion was soccer.

Grable had resigned himself to working in a Nike store in Oshkosh when Guiliano Oliviero, early in his tenure as the Wave’s head coach, visited and invited him to try out again.

“I was a little hesitant,” Grable said. “That was a few months down the road and it was kind of in the back of my head. All of a sudden it’s a week before tryouts, and all right, let’s do it. So I came to the tryout, went to the preseason, signed and that’s it.”

Since then he has been in 167 of a possible 186 regular season and playoff games, including all but one over the past three seasons. That dependability is a source of pride.

“It’s always a little something here, a little something there. It could always be worse,” Grable said. “I don’t like to miss games. Whenever you’re in the stands, you want to be on the field, so I do pride myself a little bit on being able to stay healthy.”

Only five players on the roster this season joined the Wave earlier. One is Walls, who also played club soccer with Grable and made the Wave cut the year Grable didn’t, and another is Andrew Wiedabach, who was a rival at Homestead High School and UW-Milwaukee.

“We always look back on it, when we were playing against each other we didn’t necessarily know each other well – we knew of each other – and there were always some heated battles, some moments when we went in on a late tackle or something on each other,” Wiedabach said. “So I think there might have been a slight little bit of animosity, but it’s funny how those things work.”

For sure. Wiedabach and Grable are roommates for road games. They’re still competitive, playing Fortnite together online with Grable’s brother, although to hear Wiedabach tell it they’re … uhhhh … better at soccer.

Beyond the Wave, Grable coaches two U11 boys youth teams and a U13 team at Elmbrook United from August to November and December to June.

He also remains close with family in Neenah.

“I’m up there hanging with my sisters. Both live up there,” Grable said. “One of them has kids so I’m around the nephews all the time. A new little niece. So I’m looking forward to spending time with them this summer.”

Preferably as a champion again.

Given his role, Grable hasn’t scored many goals as a pro. His six this regular season were a career high and topped the total from the three seasons combined.

Grable picked up his first playoff goal with the Wave last weekend in a win over previously unbeaten Monterrey in the game that tied the series with the Flash. Milwaukee won the knockout minigame that followed. And yes, as infrequently as those goals come, they’re as exciting as those he scored as a kid.

“I don’t get a ton of chances,” Grable said. “I don’t create a ton of chances for myself. So I take them when they’re there.

“This year I’ve been lucky enough to be on the end of a few good passes, able to get myself into some spots to have a couple of nice goals as well. So it’s just been fun, man. It’s been a good year.”

Source: Milwaukee Wave defender Stuart Grable of Neenah is quietly dependable

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