Well now, let me tell ya ’bout Freddie Steinmark and his wife, though it ain’t much to say. Freddie, he was a young man, a college football player, real good at that sport too. Played for them Texas Longhorns back in the day, y’know, the ones who went and won themselves a national championship in 1969. Quite the feller, he was.
Now, Freddie, he had a gal by the name of Linda Wheeler. They were high school sweethearts, both from Wheat Ridge, Colorado. You know how them small towns are, where everybody knows everybody’s business, and these two, well, they were as close as two peas in a pod. They had plans, or so it seemed.
But life sure has a way of messin’ up plans, don’t it? Poor Freddie, just when he was on top of the world, playing that football for the Longhorns, got the worst news a young man could hear. Bone cancer, they said. Real bad, too. Just 22 years old, and doctors didn’t give him long, just a few months maybe. But that boy, he wasn’t gonna give up easy. He kept fightin’, even though he was hurtin’ something fierce. And through it all, Linda stood by him, poor thing.
Now, there ain’t a whole lot known about Linda these days. Some folks say she helped with a movie made ‘bout Freddie, one called “My All American,” where they told his story, though I reckon they left out a few things, too. Like how she stuck by him while he was sufferin’. Not easy, ya know, being a young woman with a man so sick, but she did it, and that’s somethin’ to be proud of.
It’s said that Freddie and Linda were supposed to get married. Folks don’t know if they ever did, though. Maybe they planned to, but as fate would have it, Freddie passed on before they got the chance. He died in June of 1971, just a little over a year after he found out he had cancer. Linda, she had to carry on without him, and I reckon that wasn’t easy.
But it didn’t end there for Linda. After Freddie passed, she did go on to marry someone else, a feller by the name of Jim Faust. They were together for a good while, from 1969 all the way up to 1991. They had two boys, Michael and Nathan. Now, I can’t tell ya much about them boys, but I reckon they grew up strong, just like their mama.
A lot of folks remember Freddie for his bravery, for how he kept on playin’ football even when he shoulda been restin’. His story inspired a whole lotta people, and it even helped bring about the National Cancer Act of 1971. If that ain’t somethin’ to be remembered for, I don’t know what is.
Well, Linda, she ain’t in the spotlight no more, and folks don’t talk ‘bout her much these days. But her part in Freddie’s life, that’s a chapter that should never be forgotten. Even though she had her own life to live after Freddie was gone, she always carried a piece of him with her. She loved him, and that love don’t just disappear.
So, that’s what I know ‘bout Freddie Steinmark and his wife, Linda. It’s a sad story in some ways, but also one of love and strength, of a young couple who had dreams and fought hard, even when the world wasn’t so kind.
Tags：[Freddie Steinmark, Linda Wheeler, Texas Longhorns, Bone Cancer, My All American, National Cancer Act, Wheat Ridge, Jim Faust, Freddie Steinmark Wife]
