Frank Steketee

Frank Wallder Steketee (April 26, 1900 – December 26, 1951) was an American football player.

A native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Steketee played college football as a fullback and halfback for Fielding H. Yost's 1918, 1920, and 1921 Michigan Wolverines football teams. As a freshman in 1918, he helped lead Michigan to an undefeated season and retroactive national championship and was selected by Walter Camp as a first-team player on the 1918 College Football All-America Team.

Steketee missed the 1919 season while serving in the United States Navy, but returned to the Michigan football team in 1920 and was selected as a first-team player on the 1920 All-Big Ten Conference football team. During three years at Michigan, Steketee was regarded as one of the best kickers and punters in football.

Steketee again served in the military during World War II. After his discharge, he worked as an account examiner for the finance division of Michigan Department of Highways until his death in 1951.

Early life Steketee's grandfather, John Steketee, was part of a wave of Dutch immigration to western Michigan in the late 1840s. The family moved to Grand Rapids in 1860. Steketee's father, Jacob Steketee, studied law at the University of Michigan and then returned to Grand Rapids where he married Frances Walder.

Steketee was born to Jacob and Frances Steketee in 1900 at Grand Rapids. Steketee attended Grand Rapids Central High School where he was president of the Class of 1918, captain of the 1917 football team, and a member of the track team. The caption to his senior yearbook photograph reads: "Handsome is as handsome does."

During his time at Michigan, Steketee was a star football player. There are press accounts of Steketee once having kicked a record 100-yard punt. In his book on the history of Michigan football, Bruce Madej wrote: "As a result of his prodigious field goals, Stek is given credit for Michigan victories over Syracuse, Illinois and Minnesota." He was a member of Michigan's first swimming team, swam the 20-yard freestyle event in 9-3/5 seconds, and was also a skilled diver. Although gymnastics was not yet a varsity sport, he was an accomplished gymnast, and his work on the parallel bars was credited with expanding his range of motion so that he could kick higher than his head. As a senior, he also competed on the Michigan golf team. According to one account, he also played for Michigan's hockey team.

In the opening game of the 1918 season against Case Institute of Technology, Steketee entered the game as a substitute and made an impressive debut. In a 33–0 victory, Steketee accounted for 21 points, "making three of the five touchdowns and kicking three out of five attempts at goal."

In the third game of the season, Steketee's performance was even more impressive. Michigan defeated Syracuse, 15–0, on a field inches deep in mud, with rain falling throughout the game. Steketee scored all 15 points in the game, kicking three field goals and scoring a touchdown. Steketee also threw a touchdown pass to end Robert Dunne from Ohio State's 12-yard line and kicked two extra points.

At the end of the 1918 season, Steketee was selected as a first-team halfback on the 1918 All-Big Ten Conference football team. Even though Steketee played at fullback, Walter Eckersall of the Chicago Tribune picked him as a halfback on the basis of Steketee's passing and kicking talent. He was also selected by Walter Camp as the first-team fullback on the 1918 College Football All-America Team. He was the only western player to receive first-team honors from Camp that year and the first player in Michigan history to be named an All-American in his freshman year. The freshman rule had been relaxed in 1918 because of World War I.

United States Navy Following the United States' entry into World War I, Steketee enlisted in the United States Navy on September 26, 1918. He was discharged on September 30, 1921.

1920 football season In July 1920, The New York Times reported on Steketee's return, noting that Michigan supporters were "greatly rejoiced by the announcement from the office of the Registrar of the University that Frank Steketee, the famous 1918 All-American fullback, will be eligible for the 1920 eleven." The paper also opined that, had Steketee been eligible in 1919, "the season's long succession of defeats might have been averted."

As the season got underway, newspapers asked the question: "Is Michigan Coming Back?" One wire service account noted: "Frank Steketee, a member of the 1918 team, and who was given the position of fullback on Walter Camp's All-American eleven, will be back on the line-plunging job this year. Steketee is as good a booter as they come, and he promises to be one of the national gridiron stars again this year."

In the 1920 Illinois game, Michigan lost, 7–6, as a 50-yard place kick by Steketee with a few minutes left missed "by a few inches."

The season's other loss came to Ohio State, 14–7. However, an Ohio newspaper account noted that, despite the loss, "Steketee was the offensive star for the Wolverines, his 26-yard gain around right end in the first quarter being the most spectacular run of the game." Another account reported: "Several spectacular gains by Steketee for Michigan featured the third period."

Though no Wolverine player named to the All-American team in 1920, Steketee was selected as a first-team halfback on the 1920 All-Big Ten Conference football team.

1921 football season Steketee kicks the winning field goal in a 3–0 win over Illinois in October 1921. As a senior, Steketee started three games at fullback and two at halfback, as the 1921 Wolverines improved to a 5–1–1 record and outscored their opponents, 187–21.

Pre-season accounts noted: "In Frank Steketee, Michigan has one of the best distance punters in the conference."

After losing to Ohio State, 14–0, Michigan rebounded the following week to defeat Illinois, 3–0, on a placement kick by Steketee. The New York Times reported that Steketee was "the outstanding figure of the Michigan offense." Steketee scored the game's only points on a kick from the 15-yard line near the end of the first half. Later in the game, Steketee "broke up the match" when he intercepted a long pass, and later "broke through and blocked Anderson's attempted place kick." Steketee also had a long run in the fourth quarter to set up Michigan's final score. Steketee and his first wife had a daughter Marcia (born c. 1925, later known as Mrs. Harold Sawyer) and a son Frank Jr. (born 1927). He later married Emma Zalma Reider in April 1945 in Lansing, Michigan.

Steketee served as a medic in World War II. After being discharged from the military, Steketee worked as an account examiner for the finance division of the Michigan Department of Highways for seven years from approximately 1944 until his death in 1951.

On the day after Christmas in 1951, Steketee collapsed shortly before noon at his desk in the state highway department headquarters. He died three hours later at Lansing's St. Lawrence Hospital. The cause of death was reported to be a heart attack.