He's one of the most energetic people you will ever meet. The man just does not stop doing. If he isn't coaching football or baseball, he's playing slow pitch softball. He will work non-stop  in fun raising causes for the kids. He did it here in Morris and now he is doing it in Arkansas.

Denny Steele is a well known baseball coach at Morris high school and a standout defensive football coach for 32 years for the Morris Redskins. His baseball teams won a state championship in 1995 and a second place finish in 1993.

Under Head Coach Dan Darlington, he was the defensive wizard for the hard hitting Redskins football teams. At the time he was inducted into the Illinois Coaches  Association Football Hall of Fame, he was the only assistant coach to make it  into the Hall.

Steele is a Morris High School graduate, where he played football and baseball. Larry Kane, former Morris head football coach told me years ago, Steele was one of
hardest hitting defensive players  he ever coached.

After high school, Steele attended Culver Stockton college and played football and baseball for four years in each sport. Denny was captain in baseball as a
catcher and also in football his senior year.

He is now Athletic Director at Norphelt High School in Arkansas, which is near the Louisiana  border. The school has about 120 students and plays in Class 2A.
The other schools in the conference have enrollments of 250 to 300 kids. Denny gave up coaching football last year,  but still is head baseball coach of the junior
high and high school teams.

Steele said the players in the Norphlet area are real laid back.

"The work ethic is different down here. You can push kids to get better and some will
respond," Steele said. "However, some will just plain quit. I had 18 kids out for baseball in high school and only 13 for the junior high team last year. This year I will have 21 kids on the baseball team."

"When I first came down here, they did not practice on Saturdays. When it's deer hunting season, you don't schedule anything, because all the kids want to go deer hunting", Steele added.

Denny said some schools in the area get a day off from school for deer season opening day.

As athletic director at both junior high and high school, Denny is going to basketball games three of four days each week.

His baseball team will be in a jamboree on February 26th, and start playing on Feb. 28. He is taking his team to Orlando in March to play some games with teams in that area. The team will also go to Disney for relaxation.

"I have alot of great town people that help out," Steele told me. "People down here either have alot of money or they have nothing. There is some oil people down here that have been very generous to the school."

"I've gone to some  of the players homes and they don't even have windows," Steele said of the small community. "I treat all the kids the same way. I'm
hard but I'm fair to all the kids."

When I asked Denny if he misses his old home town of Morris, he said yes.


"Yes I do. But, I don't miss all the controversy that was there when I was leaving," Steele said. "I coached a lot of great kids at Morris, and that I will never forget."


"I wish the new coaching staff all the success in the world. But when I left Morris, we had mostly Morris people coaching and we had a great coaching chemistry at the school."

When I asked Denny for his biggest baseball thrill, he said winning the state championship had to be the biggest. Also beating Joliet Catholic 2-0 in the regionals was a great feeling.

In football, all the times in the championship contests are something Denny will never forget.

Steele is still in the state record books for one of the longest runs in the state. He raced 96 yards for a touchdown against Ottawa Marquette, while at Morris High School. In 1967, Denny's senior season, Morris was 8-0-2 for the year. His long time best friend, Dan Darlington was a teammate.

Denny said he met his wife, Nancy in Morris and now they live in Nancy's hometown of Norphlet. The Steeles just had their 36th wedding anniversary on Nov. 22. One of Denny's big thrills was coaching his daughter, Stephanie in softball, when he was girls head softball coach at Morris.

"Norphlet has 735 residents and I know everyone and everyone knows me. My wife, Nancy told me 'You know this is wrong. This my hometown and you know more people here than I do." Steele said.

Denny is 60 years of age, still plays softball, lifts weights and ran in a marathon and coaches and works everyday. He told me retirement is not in sight at this time. He enjoys what he is doing in Norphlet.


Pigskin Picks

Professor Don Neushwander has tied this writer for first place in this column's NFL predictions. "Neush" had a great week by picking 13 right in 16 games. After leading all season long, this writer is struggling to get that lead back again.

I was 11-5 for the week.Tony "The Wonder Boy" Darin was 12-4. Nick "All Business " Vidito was also 11-5. Guest selector Jerry Belt was 10-6 this week.
 
For the season, Professor and I are tied for first place with 109 right and 64 wrong. Tony is next at 106/67, followed by Nick at 105/68 and then the guest at 102/68.
The Bears alone in first place in the North Division will be at Detroit this Sunday.