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Tuesday, July 9, 2024 | 9:41 PM
When Ron Steedle was promoted to lead the Shaler ice hockey team in 1988, few could have predicted the type of influence he would have on a team that has since amassed more than 500 wins.
Like any good coach, his influence went beyond practices and games. Steidle attended birthdays and graduations, weddings and funerals. He was there when his players needed him. Steidle knew his players' friends and lovers. He knew their families, their pastors and teachers. He knew the kids he coached.
Steidle died suddenly on July 4 at age 69 after more than 50 years of coaching experience, including 29 years at Shaler where he served multiple stints as head coach of the Titans. Formerly nicknamed “Flame” for his flowing red hair, Steidle's passion for working with young people was unmistakable.
“Ron helped hundreds of young people become adults,” said longtime friend and assistant coach Bob Justus. “The impact is immeasurable.”
Steidl left a great legacy throughout Western Pennsylvania hockey: He helped start Jeff Mauro's Coaches Association and was a driving force behind the 1999 merger of the PIHL and WPIAL Hockey Leagues.
Steedle's coaching career began in 1978 with the North Hills Amateur Hockey Association. He cut his teeth in the North Allegheny and Fox Chapel programs before joining the Titans as an assistant in 1983. Prior to the merger, Steedle's Shaler teams won five PIHL league championships and nine division titles. He and Mauro coached the area's all-stars to back-to-back gold medals in 1999 and 2000 at the Keystone State Games.
“Ron's greatest achievement was developing and mentoring countless players, coaches and administrators,” said Mauro, a Pennsylvania Hockey Association executive director. “He developed them into change makers.”
Steidl and Schaller's relationship had its ups and downs. After Schaller's 200th win against Fox Chapel, the team presented Steidl with a commemorative plaque. Even after the team fired him after two struggling years in the mid-2000s, Steidl continued to champion the program. He scouted young talent and convinced visiting players to play for the Titans. He was in the stands celebrating Schaller's 3-2 overtime win against Seneca Valley in the 2009 WPIAL championship.
He returned to the Titans under coach Matt Ranallo in 2016 and continued coaching after Steve Steidaher took over the next year, and also had coaching stints at Upper St. Clair and the Butler Valley Dawgs.
“Ron could see the good in people in any situation,” Steidaher said, “even if it was just beneath the surface. He never gave up on anybody. He just kept trying to bring out the good in them.”
Luke Hentschel met Steedle during his final season at Butler Valley. Hentschel, like many of his predecessors, learned from Steedle and was inspired to become a coach. The two became “best friends” and spent a year on the bench together.
“I was impressed that he had no vested interest as a coach other than wanting to make the kids better,” Henschel said. “He cared about his players not just as hockey players but as people, and I thought that was really great.”
A fixture at Pirates, Steelers and Penguins games, Steeldle held season tickets to all three teams. Whenever Pittsburgh sports teams were playing, Steeldle was there, keeping score, making friends and coaching the players he brought with him.
“Ron was a conversation starter,” College Hockey East Commissioner Dave Fryer said. “He was always someone who had something to talk about. Everyone looked forward to meeting him.”
Fryer estimated he and Steele attended as many as 1,000 sporting events during their 15-year-plus friendship, and said Steele befriended familiar faces as well as those who often get overlooked.
As news of Steidl's death spread, Fryer made sure to spread the word to people who might not have heard.
“Reggie, the saxophonist at Clemente Bridge, broke down in tears,” he said. “What could be more Pittsburgh than that? Ron was a friend to the friendless.”
Steidle never sacrificed time for his family or his faith, Fryer said. A devout Catholic, he frequently performed confirmations at St. Matthew Parish and was a regular member of the congregation. He was especially proud of being an uncle to 11 nephews and nieces and 16 great-nephews and great-nieces, and found the time to coach their sports teams.
“The world needs more people like Ron Steedle,” Fryer said, “but there was only one.”
Tag: Schaller
