Walter Peter Steffen (October 9, 1886 – March 9, 1937) was an American

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

player and coach, lawyer, politician, and judge. He emerged on the national scene as a high school

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

, leading his North Division High School team of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

to an intersectional championship over

Boys High School Single-sex education, also known as single-gender education and gender-isolated education, is the practice of conducting education with male and female students attending separate classes, perhaps in separate buildings or schools. The practice of ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

by a score of 75–0 that ended after three quarters because of darkness. Steffen and his team helped introduce the more open style of play that prevailed in the Midwest. He played college football as a quarterback at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

from 1906 to 1908 and was a two-time All-American selection. Steffen served as the head football coach at the Carnegie Institute of Technology—now known as

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

–from 1914 to 1932, compiling a record of 88–53–9. He was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

as a player in 1969. Steffen graduated from the

University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dist ...

in 1912 and was admitted to the Illinois state bar the same year. He served as assistant United States Attorney under James Herbert Wilkerson and then as an alderman on the

Chicago City Council The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the government of the City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 50 alderpersons elected from 50 wards to serve four-year terms. The council is gaveled into session regularly, usually mont ...

, representing the 23rd Ward. He had been elected to fill the seat left vacant earlier that year after the resignation of John Kjellander. In 1922, Steffen was elected to the

Superior Court of Cook County The Superior Court of Cook County was a court in Cook County, Illinois. It was preceded by earlier courts. 1845 saw the creation of the County Court of Cook County. In 1849, this was renamed The Cook County Court of Common Pleas. In 1859, this was ...

as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

. He resigned from the City Council to assume this judgeship and served on the court until his death. Steffen's health declined in the 1930s. He was operated on for gall stones in 1930 and a kidney ailment in 1936. In early 1937, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He died at his home, in Chicago, on March 9, 1937.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* * 1886 births 1937 deaths American football quarterbacks Carnegie Mellon Tartans football coaches Chicago Maroons football players All-American college football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees Chicago City Council members Illinois Republicans Judges of the Superior Court of Cook County University of Chicago Law School alumni Lawyers from Chicago Sportspeople from Chicago Coaches of American football from Illinois Players of American football from Chicago Deaths from brain cancer in the United States {{1910s-collegefootball-coach-stub