‘My All American’ celebrating the Freddie Steinmark story

‘My All American’ celebrating the Freddie Steinmark story November 13, 2015

 

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Freddie Steinmark (Finn Wittrock; Unbroken; American Horror Story) is a scrappy, gritty, determined and successful high school football player in Colorado whose father Fred (Michael Reilly Burke) taught him the game and was present at all of Freddie’s. When Freddie is a junior, and training intensely, he meets Linda Wheeler (Sarah Bolger) and it’s love at first sight. Early on they start talking about how many kids they want to have when they get married.

In 1968 Freddie applies for college scholarships but because of his small stature he doesn’t get any offers for the big schools. Then one day he gets a call. Someone sent all of the films of Freddie’s games to legendary coach Darrell Royal (Aaron Eckhart) of the University of Texas at Austin. Coach Royal is very impressed and offers the young man a place on the team. Freddie is shocked and accepts the position of safety. Meanwhile, Linda applies and is accepted at UT as well.

Freddie’s days are packed with football practice and he quietly attends Mass every day during high school and at college. He and Linda draw closer and continue to plan for their future.

In 1969 the Longhorns are #1 and prepping to play the #2 school in the Southwest Conference, the Arkansas Razorbacks. It came to be known as ‘The Game of the Century” when the Longhorns came from behind (14-0 after three quarters) to win 15-14. All the players then focused on the Cotton Bowl Classic on January 1, 1970.

But before that, Freddie, who had been nursing what he thought was a bruised bone injury all season and limping was diagnosed with a large tumor at the base of his femur. The doctors amputated his leg at the hip. Freddie was told he could not go to the Cotton Bowl Game, that he wouldn’t heal on time, but he started working and defied doctor’s orders to stand at the sidelines while the Longhorns crushed Notre Dame 21-17.

All in all, “My All American” may seem like just another football story, but it is so much more than this because it’s about an ordinary kid who had an extraordinary heart and spirit and who always wanted to win. He was never shy about his ambition yet he was a team player all the way. To this day, those players who knew him, anyone who knew him, says that Freddie Steinmark “was the most spiritual person I ever met.”

Finn Wittrock, who resembles Freddie in size and looks, said that to play Freddie he read “Courage Beyond the Game: The Freddie Steinmark Story” by Jim Dent (the film is based on the book) and “I Play to Win” written by Freddie himself and published in 1971. Then Wittrock said at the press day for the film, “Acting is where your research meets your imagination; you do the reading then you let your imagination bring it to life.” You also have to train hard, and train Wittrock did.

Aaron Eckhart, who plays Coach Royal, is in the opening scenes of the film as an elderly man (in what looks like a plaster of Paris mask.) A reporter is interviewing him and it becomes obvious that he is having memory problems because he hardly reacts to the journalist’s questions. She asks Coach Royal about the several “All American” football players he had coached over his long career and he says, “Freddie Steinmark.” When she protests that he was not designated “All American” Coach Royal’s eyes light up and the story begins. Eckhart told us at the press day that in his research about Coach Royal he discovered that the coach never forgot Freddie even as his Alzheimer’s worsened; Freddie was Coach Royal’s “All American” even if you don’t find him on any lists.

The real Freddie Stenmark, n. 28, UT Austin Longhorns. Photo thanks to AustenWay.com
The real Freddie Stenmark, n. 28, UT Austin Longhorns. Photo thanks to AustenWay.com

Freddie’s mother Gloria (played by Robin Tunney), now in her 90s, visited the set as did Freddie’s brother. Eckhart said she was there when they shot the locker room scene and he had to tell the team about Freddie’s condition. It was a sad moment but he felt the burden of doing it well in her presence.
Angelo Pizzo, who wrote “Rudy” and “Hoosiers” (my all-time favorite sports movie), scripted “My All American” and directed. He admits that he likes exploring regional stories and understanding how important they are to the local culture. And this is what you have to consider when taking in “My All American.” Steinmark was never an NFL player; he was small, he was local, and he was a great kid. (“Hoosiers” is on the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress.)

I had to ask Pizzo about making a football movie in the rather anti-football climate of today, especially with so many concussions and brain injuries. He explained that though the helmets look like they are from the 60s they were specially made to protect the players. Then he said that the film is about Freddie and his character, his spirit rather than the future of football.

It’s obvious that Pizzo knows how to take the emotional temperature of a story, like football in Texas, which is like a religion, and translates it amazingly well for the screen to make sure that it will be rated “BK” – Bring Kleenex. Lots of it. “My All American” is his directing debut and he enjoyed the whole process, including his role in casting the football players (some of whom are related to Freddie’s teammates, and making sure they memorized over 100 plays that Freddie made famous in his short college career. Pizzo and the actors all commented on how challenging it was to film in 100 degree heat and humidity in Texas.

Watching “My All America” was like watching 1950s TV, it is just so wholesome. And it seems from all accounts that this is how Freddie lived his life. It’s all very sweet and in this day of grit crusted action films (think “Mad Max: Fury Road”), it’s taking the adrenaline level down a notch. Several notches. Despite the slightly suggestive scene in the trailer between Freddie and Linda, nothing happens except you know that they are headed to the altar. Alas, this never happens. Freddie survived months longer than others with his kind of cancer, and on the day when he and Linda were to be married in his hospital room, eighteen months after his surgery, Freddie fell into a coma never to regain consciousness. (This part is not in the film; if it had been included you’d need a box of Kleenex.)

Freddie was a Catholic Christian and his Catholicism is woven into the fabric of the film. Freddie never proselytized in his life and neither does the film. Going to daily Mass was just natural for him and so it is in the film: natural. The film shows him struggling after his leg is amputated; it was a hard thing to accept. So he was human, after all.

Freddie remains in the hearts of those who knew him or just know about him. To this day UT Austin Longhorns touch a memorial plaque of Freddie on their way onto the field before each home game, hoping for a little help from above.
It’s hard to imagine anyone like Freddie beating up his girl friend or abusing drugs or breaking the law in any way. I am so tired of hearing about the latest sports scandal and violence against women. We could sure use a Freddie today. Was Freddie a saint? Maybe, but it’s hard to think that this is what he was after, some kind of celebrity or honor. He just wanted to play football and win. That his life touched so many people and continues to do so today is a testament to his family and how he lived.

“My All American” will move you to tears even though you probably never heard of Freddie Steinmark (at first I thought they had made a mistake and meant Roger Staubach because my knowledge of football is quite limited). See it and let yourself be inspired. Then take a moment to mourn this fine young man and what he might have become. Then let your tears turn to joy and gratitude because though he was with us only for a while, here we are watching a film about his short, precious life, almost 45 years later.

“My All American” is what they mean when they say, “Instead of cursing the darkness, turn on some light.


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