Gil Steinke

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Gil Steinke
Date of birth	May 3, 1919
Place of birth	Brenham, Texas
Date of death	May 10, 1995 (aged 76)
Position(s)	Running back Head Coach
College	Texas A&M-Kingsville
Stats
Playing Stats	DatabaseFootball
Team(s) as a player
1945-1948	Philadelphia Eagles
Team(s) as a coach/administrator
1954-1976	Texas A&M-Kingsville
College Football Hall of Fame

Gilbert Erwin Steinke (May 3, 1919 – May 10, 1995) was a head coach of the Texas A&M University–Kingsville football team after having played at Texas A&M then professionally in the National Football League for the Philadelphia Eagles.

[edit] Coaching career

As a college coach he had an outastanding record of 182-61-4 at Texas A&I (which got taken over by Texas A&M well after he left) and won 6 national championships at that level. Later he tried his hand at coaching a professional team with the USFL's San Antonio Gunslingers in the mid-1980s.

He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1996.

[edit] Role in intergration

Steinke was very well known for integrating the football team, walking out of restaurants and motels that wouldn't take blacks and whites, and bringing on lots of black and hispanic players regardless of social or financial status.

[edit] Trademarks

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. This seems still to be an oddity.

For more information see Sports Illustrated, Nov 17, 1975.

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Philadelphia Eagles 1948 NFL Champions