Inductees

When New Haven High School offered its head boys basketball job to Ray Steinhoff, he threw everybody a curve.

“I didn’t think I was ready and turned it down,” said Steinhoff, 25 at the time. “Fortunately, the superintendent didn’t give me a choice. I still remember his words: ‘If you don’t take it now, I’ll never offer it again. We think you’re ready.’”

Was he ever. New Haven Basketball re-affirmed its place on the state sports map over the next 30 seasons, and that is why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted Steinhoff with the Class of 2019.

Steinhoff spent 39 years at New Haven (1980 to 2019), coaching boys basketball and baseball and serving as athletic director for his final 35 years.

In basketball, he was the Shamrocks’ assistant from 1980 to 1984 and head coach from 1985 to 2014. His teams were 550-288 and reached four Final Fours, with the 1997, 1999 and 2001 teams winning Class 1 state championships and the 1998 team placing third. New Haven won the Four Rivers Conference four times despite being the league’s smallest school and captured 11 district titles.

His teams enjoyed 13 20-win seasons, including nine between 1997 and 2007. During that stretch, New Haven was 258-72, which featured two 29-win seasons.

Steinhoff graduated in 1976 from Orchard Farm High School in St. Charles, played two seasons at East Central College and finished his degree at Southeast Missouri State University.

Coaching basketball was his dream. He took mental notes from his Orchard Farm coaches, John McDougald and Lee McKinney (MSHOF 1992), and East Central coaches Marvin Walker and Dick Nagy.

“I played for good coaches. I knew I wanted to coach and so I scouted their practices as I played,” Steinhoff said. “I wrote down the drills, noted how things were organized and what the coaches emphasized.”

The New Haven Basketball Program (MSHOF 2012) had won state titles in 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959 and 1970 but experienced some ups and downs before Steinhoff’s arrival.

His 1985 team – his first as head coach – finished 15-13. Three 18-win seasons and back-to-back, 23-win seasons closed out the 1980s.

To build interest, he started summer basketball camps and implemented youth programs. Additionally, he made the gym more available to encourage improvement.

He was detail-oriented in planning practices and preparing for opponents, to the point of carrying notecards of game-ready plays.

The Shamrocks often used “quick hitters” that flowed into a patient motion offense should those first options not materialize. Their defensive calling card was a hard-nosed, half-court man-to-man. They were known for an “old school” style of fundamental play and seldom beat themselves.

“Most importantly, we were blessed with great kids who always bought in to what we asked of them,” Steinhoff said. “We had players who accepted being coached hard. They were tough, motivated, dedicated, and unselfish guys who worked and played extremely hard.”

His decision in 1996 — to keep a group of freshmen and sophomores on JV — paid off. The 1997 team, with a six-man rotation, beat 10-deep Bishop Hogan in overtime for the state title, rallying from a 15-point, third-quarter deficit and kick-starting another great Shamrocks era.

Steinhoff credits all of his assistants for success, including high school principal Tim Strobel and Derek Bailey. They were on the bench for 20 and 18 years, respectively.

“(Strobel) was a dang good principal and ran a good school. He was a stickler for fundamentals and instilled a work ethic with our young players,” Steinhoff said. “Derek was a great compliment to the both of us and had come through the program as a player (1989).”

Steinhoff earned Coach of the Year honors in the honors four times, Missouri Basketball Coaches Association three times, and Missouri Sports Writers and Sportscasters Association twice. In 2011, he was inducted into the MBCA Hall of Fame, and New Haven dedicated its basketball court in his name.

In 35 years as A.D., New Haven teams reached 44 Final Fours and won 13 state championships. In baseball, he was part of four Final Fours, including as head coach of the 1987 state championship team.

Steinhoff also cannot say enough about the support of so many: his wife, Ruth, and their children, Ryan and Rachel as well as the community of roughly 2,000. Game nights were often packed.

“Wow, did we get to play in some great atmospheres,” Steinhoff said. “Our gym had to be the best to play in in the state of Missouri.”