Alright, let’s talk about this Freddie Steinmark fella. Now, I ain’t no fancy writer or nothin’, but I’ll tell you what I know, the way I know how to tell it.
Who was this Freddie Steinmark, you ask? Well, he was a football player, see? Played for them Texas Longhorns back in the day. Not a big fella, mind you. Kinda small, like one of them runty chickens we used to have on the farm. But tough? Lord, he was tough as an old boot!
They say he played real good, helped his team win lots of games. Twenty outta twenty-two, I heard. That’s a whole lotta winnin’, ain’t it? And he wasn’t just brawn, neither. Smart as a whip, too. Got good grades and even helped coach after…well, after things got bad.
See, Freddie, he played in this real big game, they called it “The Game of the Century.” Big rivals, Arkansas Razorbacks and the Longhorns. Texas won, squeaked by with just one little point, 15-14. Everybody was hollerin’ and cheerin’, happy as clams. But then…then things took a turn.
- They found somethin’ wrong with Freddie’s leg.
- Some kinda nasty cancer, they called it.
- Had to take his leg off, poor fella.
Imagine that! A football player with no leg. Most folks woulda just given up, crawled into a hole and stayed there. But not Freddie. He kept on fightin’. Showed up at games, cheered on his teammates from the sidelines. Twenty days after they took his leg, there he was, still part of the team.
Now, Freddie had a girl, too. Linda Wheeler, her name was. Sweet little thing, I reckon. They was high school sweethearts, went to college together. Stuck by him through thick and thin, she did. Just like a good woman should.
Folks say Freddie was an inspiration. Like that Rudy fella, from the movie. But Freddie, he was the real deal, not just some movie character. He had a big heart, they say. Bigger than his body, for sure. And he loved that football, and his team, and that girl of his.
And then, the saddest part. Freddie, he didn’t make it. That cancer, it got him in the end. Died young, he did. June 6, 1971. Too young, if you ask me. But even though he’s gone, people still remember him. They write books and make movies about him. ‘Cause he showed ’em what it means to be tough, to never give up, even when things get real bad.
They got a movie about him, “My All American,” they call it. Never seen it myself, but I heard it’s good. Shows you how he lived, how he played, how he fought. And how he loved.
So, that’s the story of Freddie Steinmark, as best as I can tell it. A good kid, a tough player, a brave soul. Gone too soon, but not forgotten. Not by a long shot.
And that’s all there is to it. Plain and simple, just like life on the farm. You work hard, you love hard, and you keep fightin’ ’til the very end. Just like Freddie.
Tags: [Freddie Steinmark, Texas Longhorns, Football, Cancer, Inspiration, My All American, Linda Wheeler, Game of the Century, College Football, Osteosarcoma]
