{{Short description|American football player (1900–1967)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}} {{Infobox NFL biography | name = Larry Steinbach | image = | number = 28, 26, 34, 5<ref name="pfa"/> | position = Tackle, guard<ref name="pfa"/> | birth_date = {{birth date|1900|12|23}} | birth_place = New Rockford, North Dakota, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1967|6|29|1900|12|23}} | death_place = Jamestown, North Dakota, U.S. | height_ft = 6 | height_in = 0 | weight_lbs = 214 | high_school = St. Thomas<br>(Mendota Heights, Minnesota) | college = St. Thomas | pastteams = * Chicago Bears ({{NFL Year|1930}}–{{NFL Year|1931}}) * Chicago Cardinals ({{NFL Year|1931}}–{{NFL Year|1933}}) * Philadelphia Eagles ({{NFL Year|1933}}) * St. Louis/Kansas City Blues (1934) |highlights= * AFL champion (1934) | pfr = S/SteiLa20 }} '''Lawrence Joseph Steinbach''' (December 23, 1900 – June 29, 1967) was an American professional football player who played four seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the Chicago Bears, Chicago Cardinals, and Philadelphia Eagles. He played college football at the College of St. Thomas. He was the first NFL player from North Dakota.

==Early life and college== Lawrence Joseph Steinbach was born on December 23, 1900, in New Rockford, North Dakota.<ref name="pfa">{{cite web | url=https://www.profootballarchives.com/players/s/stei01200.html | title=Larry Steinbach | publisher=Pro Football Archives | accessdate=May 28, 2025}}</ref> His parents William and Mary Steinbach had emigrated from Germany in 1882.<ref name="inforum">{{cite news | url=https://www.inforum.com/newsmd/steinbach-first-n-d-native-in-nfl | title=Steinbach first N.D. native in NFL | work=The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead | date=June 23, 2007 | accessdate=May 28, 2025}}</ref> He was raised on a farm near New Rockford, in Eddy County.<ref name="Prairie">{{cite web | url=https://news.prairiepublic.org/show/dakota-datebook-archive/2022-05-19/north-dakotas-first-pro-football-player | title=North Dakota's First Pro Football Player | publisher=Prairie Public NewsRoom | date=May 19, 2022 | accessdate=May 28, 2025}}</ref> Steinbach attended a country school for his elementary education but did not immediately attend high school due to the distance from the family farm.<ref name="inforum"/> He also endured several illnesses in his youth.<ref name="pfra">{{cite web | url=https://profootballresearchers.com/archives/Website_Files/Coffin_Corner/03-10-074.pdf | title=The Man from North Dakota | publisher=Professional Football Researchers Association | accessdate=May 28, 2025 | author=Cusher, Tony | pages=1981}}</ref> At the age of 22, he enrolled at New Rockford High School.<ref name="Prairie"/> Two years afterward, he transferred to St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights, Minnesota, and later graduated with a high school diploma.<ref name="pfr">{{cite web | url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/S/SteiLa20.htm | title=Larry Steinbach | publisher=Pro Football Reference | accessdate=May 28, 2025}}</ref><ref name="Prairie"/>

Despite little high school football experience, Steinbach, who weighed 225 pounds at the time, ended up making the college football team at the College of St. Thomas, now known as the University of St. Thomas.<ref name="pfra"/> He played four seasons for the St. Thomas Tommies.<ref name="pfra"/> He worked odd jobs in college until he was awarded a scholarship.<ref name="inforum"/> He was named All-State his senior year in 1929 and helped the team win the conference title that year.<ref name="inforum"/><ref name="pfra"/>

==Pro football career== Steinbach played in 11 games, starting nine, for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) in 1930.<ref name="pfr"/> He was the first NFL player from North Dakota.<ref name="inforum"/><ref name="pfra"/> During the NFL offseason, he played for a barnstorming team that included Pro Football Hall of Famers Bronco Nagurski and Ernie Nevers.<ref name="inforum"/> Steinbach appeared in four games, starting three, for the Bears in 1931.<ref name="pfr"/>

After Steinbach's friend, Ernie Nevers, became the head coach of the Chicago Cardinals, the team acquired Steinbach during midseason in 1931.<ref name="inforum"/> He finished the 1931 season by playing in three games (two starts) for the Cardinals.<ref name="pfr"/> Steinbach played in seven games, starting one, for the Cardinals in 1932.<ref name="pfr"/> He appeared in one game for Chicago in 1933.<ref name="pfr"/>

On November 7, 1933, the Philadelphia Eagles, who were playing their first season, purchased Steinbach from the Cardinals.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/republican-and-herald/173307866/ | title=Eagles Buy Steinbach From Chicago Bears | work=Shenandoah Evening Herald | date=November 8, 1933 | accessdate=May 28, 2025 | pages=7}}</ref> He finished the 1933 season by playing in three games for the Eagles and catching one pass for five yards.<ref name="pfr"/>

In 1934, Steinbach started all eight games for the St. Louis/Kansas City Blues of the American Football League (AFL).<ref name="pfa"/> The Blues finished in first place in the AFL with a 7–0–1 record.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.profootballarchives.com/1934afls-k.html | title=1934 St. Louis/Kansas City Blues (AFL) | work=Pro Football Archives | accessdate=May 28, 2025}}</ref> He suffered no injuries during his NFL career but was later noted as stating, in regards to the playing conditions of the time, "You just didn't dare get injured because you'd be released from the team with no income."<ref name="inforum"/>

==Later life== After his football career, Steinbach returned to the family grain and cattle farm in New Rockford, prospering and expanding it to {{convert|3,400|acres}}.<ref name="inforum"/> After learning of Steinbach's commercial success, Bears owner George Halas asked him to help start an NFL team in Los Angeles, but he declined.<ref name="inforum"/> Years later, a friend of Steinbach's attempted to persuade him to buy the Chicago Cardinals but Steinbach again declined.<ref name="inforum"/>

Steinbach died in Jamestown, North Dakota, on June 29, 1967, after a two-week illness.<ref name="oshkosh">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/84993888/the-oshkosh-northwestern/|title=Ex-Footballer Dies|agency=UPI|date=July 1, 1967|work=Oshkosh Daily Northwestern|page=17}}</ref><ref name="inforum"/><ref name="Prairie"/> He was buried at the Calvary Cemetery in Jamestown.<ref name="pfra"/> At the time of his death, he was reported as being a millionaire.{{r|oshkosh}} In 1981, football historian and North Dakota resident Tony Cusher said that Steinbach "was a good – although not great – player. Had he begun his NFL career at an earlier age and played for eight or 10 years, he no doubt would have achieved a bigger reputation."<ref name="inforum"/>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steinbach, Larry}} Category:1900 births Category:1967 deaths Category:People from Eddy County, North Dakota Category:Players of American football from North Dakota Category:American football tackles Category:American football guards Category:St. Thomas Tommies (Minnesota) football players Category:Chicago Bears players Category:Chicago Cardinals players Category:Philadelphia Eagles players Category:American Football League (1934) players Category:American people of German descent Category:20th-century American sportsmen