Background
Steinke was born May 3, 1919 in Brenham, Texas.
Steinke was born May 3, 1919 in Brenham, Texas.
He died May 10, 1995 in Austin, Texas. He is buried in Masonic Cemetery, Caldwell, Texas. Steinke played with the Philadelphia Eagles from 1945–1948 and led the NFL in punt returns with a 14.8 average in 1947.
After coaching in the high school ranks and at Oklahoma State, Trinity and Texas Agricultural and Mechanical, Steinke returned to his alma mater to become the athletic director and head football coach at Texas Agricultural and Industrial from 1954-1976.
He directed the Javelinas to 39 consecutive triumphs and six National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics football national titles, including three in a row from 1974-1976. Steinke was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1977 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1996.
Later he tried his hand at coaching a professional team with the United States Football League"s San Antonio Gunslingers in the mid-1980s. Steinke was one of the early proponents of integrating Southern football.
He was well known for walking out of restaurants and motels that would not take blacks and whites, and bringing on lots of black and Hispanic players regardless of social or financial status.
"We integrated football in Texas," Steinke told the Houston Chronicle in 1989. "We had Sid Blanks (later a Houston Oiler) before anyone else integrated."
One of Steinke"s trademarks was that he coached from the stands to get a better view of the game, using runners to deliver plays to the team