The following profile of longtime Slippery Rock football equipment manager Ron Steele was written by Butler Eagle sports editor John Enrietto and originally appeared in print in the Butler Eagle. Photo taken by Enrietto and provided with permission from the Butler Eagle. Visit the Butler Eagle online at www.butlereagle.com
 
 
SLIPPERY ROCK — When Ron Steele retired, the Slippery Rock University football program figured it was time to put him to work.
 
Steele, 79, born and raised in the Slippery Rock community, spent seven years as a police officer in Slippery Rock before becoming an SRU policeman. From there, he took on a position as the university's director of safety.
 
"I had been helping out the football team with their equipment," Steele said. "I watched (former SRU head coach) George Mihalik play quarterback here at the old Thompson Field. When George stayed on at the university and began the safety management program, we saw a lot of each other and became friends."
 
Mihalik said assistant coach Vic Campagna was the football team's official equipment manager for a few years, "but he'd have to leave the field if a player had some type of equipment problem and that would interrupt practice. Ron saw that was going on and started helping us out during practice."
 
Steele retired as director of safety in 2001 — and became The Rock football equipment manager.
 
"I had the time and they had the need," Steele said.
 
He's still filling that need.
 
Mihalik retired as head coach after the 2015 season.
 
"Before or after a practice or a game, Ron and I sat together and talked many times over the years," Mihalik said. "I told him I was thinking of retiring and he said he was gonna quit when I did. Almost four years later, he's still doing it."
 
What Steele does is plenty.
 
He organizes every player's uniform, home and away, shoulder pads, helmet, socks, etc. He makes sure enough footballs are ready on game day and for practice, gets the kicker's net on the field, etc.
 
"Any piece of clothing or equipment that has to be ready, I'm the guy," Steele said. "We're talking about 100 players here. It keeps you busy."
 
Steele affectionately refers to the team's equipment room as "my office." The Rock players and coaches refer to him as "Papa Steele," said Shawn Lutz, current head coach.

"Ron is invaluable to this program," Lutz  said. "There's not a player who has come through this program who doesn't respect what he does."
 
Steele has a few interns working under him, but there's little doubt that he's the man.
 
"Somebody's helmet breaks, he's the guy who fixes it," Lutz said. "Someone has a shoulder pad issue, a uniform problem, he's the guy. He helps to figure the budget out, too."
 
Steele said the biggest thing he appreciates about his job is the respect the players show him.
 
"We're talking about kids who come here from all kinds of backgrounds," Steele said. "Some of them come from rough upbringings, they haven't had it easy in life. Yet, to a man, they refer to me as 'Mr. Steele.' That really does mean a lot to me."
 
He admits to raising his voice to players at times over equipment issues, but insists it's all in fun. And the players never yell back.
 
"One kid came into the equipment room one day before practice saying he needed a pair of socks," Steele said. "So I gave him a pair. Next thing I know, seven or eight more players came walking in wanting a pair of socks. I looked at them and yelled, 'Haven't you guys heard of a Walmart?' We'd all wind up laughing."
 
Steele takes care of the coaches and players in ways that go beyond equipment.
 
"He also got on the bus for road trips with one or two giant bags of snacks for everybody," Mihalik said. "And he must have cases of chewing gum, because he always supplies the entire coaching staff with it."
 
Steele graduated from Slippery Rock High School in 1957. He did not play football as the high school did not offer the sport until the new school was built in 1962.
 
"All we had was basketball," he said of his high school days. "We played basketball and drank beer."
 
Only he wasn't officially on the basketball team.
 
"I was the equipment manager," he blurted out. "That's no lie."
 
Steele will turn 80 in March. He admits to threatening to retire every year, but has remained on the job. Now he's getting everything ready for SRU's spring football practice sessions which begin next month.
 
"I do have to cut back and start breaking in a new guy," Steele said. "But I'm sure that will be a gradual thing. I'll always have my hand in this to some degree. I love being part of the team."