The Knox-Lombard Athletic Hall of Fame
Topper Steinman graduated from Knox College in 1970, and is still remembered as a football player who gave everything he had in every game he played.
Athletic Director Harley Knosher was a defensive coach when Topper played linebacker for the Siwash and recalls: “Topper was the only player we ever had to be carried from the field at the end of games because of pure exhaustion. He left it all between the lines, every game.”
Topper lettered for Knox football in 1967, ’68, and ’70 and was voted Most Valuable Defensive Player in each of those three seasons. Behind his strong play on the defensive side of the ball, his final season on the gridiron saw the 1970 Siwash team win six games, signaling a turnaround for the program as that season matched the number of wins the football program had in the previous 10 years combined. Standing 5-feet-9 inches and weighing just 155 pounds, Topper is remembered as being pound-for-pound, inch-for-inch, the toughest player to ever don the pads for Knox College.
After graduating Topper moved on to the Unit 4 School System in Champaign, Illinois where he was a counselor and Educational consultant. In1977 he was recognized by the Jaycees as the “Outstanding Educator for the Champaign, Illinois School System.”
In his second career, Topper was a national consultant and lead trainer with the National Center for Conflict Resolution Education out of Urbana, Illinois.
Topper’s exemplary work with children led him to the lecture circuit, where he has spent years as a nationally recognized speaker on child rearing. This vocation demands most of his time, but is an example of Topper’s efforts to better the lives of young people everywhere.
In 1968 Topper’s parents wrote a letter to Knox College. In part it read: “ We are grateful to Knox for all the wonderful opportunities they are giving our son. We know he will do justice to your confidence in him.”
I am honored to welcome into the Knox-Lombard Athletic Othmar “Topper” Steinman, who has done justice not only to Knox College but everyone he knows.
