Chris Conley, the radio voice of D.C. Everest sports, remembers football coach Wayne Steffenhagen, who died Friday at age 79.
SCHOFIELD, WI (WSAU-93.9 THE GAME) – There are many people who knew coach Wayne Steffenhagen better and longer than me. There are two things that I’d come to know about Coach Steff: You’d never meet someone who’d accomplished so much who was so modest. And, he was always coaching.
Wayne Steffenhagen’s football teams filled the D.C. Everest trophy cases season after season. And not once did I hear him talk about state championships or conference titles. He knew that achievements speak for themselves.
Yet, his ability to remember his players’ names years after they graduated was uncanny. Coach remembered my name after just one or two meetings. When he wasn’t watching his grand-children play football, he’d listen to the Everest games on the radio or watch the film a few days later. Coach Steff knew that he’d cast too large a shadow if he attended the Everest football games in person. He seemed to appreciate how much of a challenge it is for the coaches who came after him. Taking over for a legend is difficult.
But he was a regular at practice. He’d park his car in the cul-du-sac behind the practice field and would walk through the gap in the chain link fence. He was a coach-of-the-coaches. Many of the current D.C. Everest coaching staff played for him. If you spoke to him during practice his eyes would almost always be on the field. He’d interrupt himself with observations about the players he was watching. “His footwork is getting better…” “That young man is improving.. ” “When he gets his balance figured out, he’s going to be a great lineman…” He told me once, “I can’t help it… I’m always coaching.”
Many of us were shocked to learn of Wayne Steffenhagen’s passing today. The last time I saw him — football practice on a cool October afternoon — he was in good shape. I asked him about his health. He’d had a few medical procedures over the summer. He’d fallen at home. He had to watch his blood pressure. “But overall, I have no complaints,” he told me. At the summer alumni softball game, I joked that he was the only person I knew who appeared to be getting younger. And I remember how happy he was to be around his football family.
Coach Steff was also an evangelist for football. When he was varsity coach he often visited youth football games and practices. He’d encourage younger players. The D.C. Everest football program was built up because of the grade school kids who imagined themselves running down the hill, coming onto the field, and playing for Wayne Steffenhagen’s Evergreens.
“It’s a privilege to coach these young men” reads the caption on one of his photographs in the lobby of the Everest fieldhouse. I’ve heard him say that several times. Others have too. There are more and more things that compete for young mens’ time and attention; he kept their interest in playing a life-changing game. Coach Steff knew that football — like no other sport — turns boys into men. There are hundreds of men in the Everest area who carry those lessons with them.
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