John R. Steigman ’51

We lost a good friend and honorary classmate when John died of cancer Oct. 31, 2006. He was 83.

A graduate of Williams College, John played tackle in 1942 on the only Williams team ever to defeat Princeton. He commanded landing craft in Europe during World War II.

John was assistant coach for the Princeton football teams when they won 24 straight games between 1949 and 1952 and were twice ranked No. 1 in the East, winning the Lambert Trophy in 1950 and 1951.

While Charlie Caldwell was the genius who wrote the book on single-wing offense, John was the brains of the defense. He went on to be head coach at Rutgers and the University of Pennsylvania, and then assistant coach at the University of Pittsburgh and West Point.

We had the pleasure of his company only last June at our 55th reunion.

He is survived by his daughters, Elthea Stiegman and Holly McAlpen; his sisters, Sally Jenkins and Judy Keough; a brother, Daniel; and two grandchildren. Joe and Lynn Zawadsky and Nick Wilson went to John’s service at the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville. We join them in remembering a friend, teammate, and valued member of our class.