It goes like this: An unrecruited, undersized walk-on becomes close with a coach who is known to be distant if not cold with most players. He then goes on to play in one of the most famous college football games of all time, with a sitting president in the audience, leaving the game early because his leg is about to snap under the weight of an enormous tumor. The team wins the national championship and his leg is removed six days later. He returns triumphantly weeks later in a show of solidarity toward his teammates, and tragically dies less than two years after that, becoming a symbol of perseverance to future generations of Longhorns. If the story of Freddie Steinmark, ’71, sounds saccharine, it’s because the narrative is well-worn.
