 He was a member of the 1971 East Chicago Washington High School Senators basketball team, which went undefeated (29-0) and won the Indiana state high school basketball championship.Among his teammates were Pete Trgovich (who played at UCLA) and Junior Bridgeman (who played at Louisville and in the NBA).Stoddard attended North Carolina State University where he was a 2-Sport athlete, playing baseball under Coach Sammy Esposito and basketball under Coach Norm Sloan.