Steve Staker (May 28, 1943 – April 28, 2020), also known as Papa Stake, was an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach. He served as the head football coach at the

Coe College Coe College is a private liberal arts college in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was founded in 1851 and is historically affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). The college is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest and the Associati ...

Cedar Rapids, Iowa Cedar Rapids is a city in Linn County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. The population was 137,710 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Iowa, second-most populous city in Iowa. The city lies o ...

from 2008 to 2015. He was honored the

Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award The Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award was an annual college football award given to the a head coach from each NCAA division. The award honored coaches who succeed on and off the field, displaying sportsmanship Sportsmanship is an asp ...

for

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is the lowest division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that do not offer athletic scholarships to student- ...

in 2009. He attended at

Upper Iowa University Upper Iowa University (UIU) is a private university in Fayette, Iowa, United States. It enrolls around 3,000 students and offers distance education programs that include centers in the U.S., an online program, an independent study program, an ...

Personal life and legacy

Staker was married to Linda King until his death in 2020. They had four children. Staker died in April 2020 of

gallbladder cancer Gallbladder cancer is a relatively uncommon cancer, with an incidence of fewer than 2 cases per 100,000 people per year in the United States. It is particularly common in central and South America, central and eastern Europe, Japan and northern Ind ...

Lisbon, Iowa Lisbon is a city in Linn County, Iowa, United States, adjacent to the city of Mount Vernon. The population was 2,233 at the time of the 2020 census. It is part of the Cedar Rapids metropolitan area. History Lisbon was laid out in 1851. It was ...

, at the age of 76. Coe College registered a plaque for Staker at the Clark Field Stadium. It's marked with people celebrating his career featuring the

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

Head coaching record

College

References

External links

Coe profile

Upper Iowa University Athletics Hall of Fame profile
1943 births 2020 deaths American football fullbacks Coe Kohawks football coaches Upper Iowa Peacocks football players Coe College faculty High school football coaches in Iowa Coaches of American football from Iowa Players of American football from Waterloo, Iowa Deaths from cancer in Iowa Deaths from gallbladder cancer in the United States {{1970s-collegefootball-coach-stub