A Humble Legend: David Steinmeyer set to join USTA Missouri Valley Hall of Fame

One of Steinmeyer’s best players, Kristen Jordan, won three state singles titles. Two of Steinmeyer’s doubles teams also collected state championships in back-to-back years: Debbie Massengale and his daughter, Laura Steinmeyer, and Massengale/Julie Pemberton.

His boys’ program reached the Missouri state semifinals on five occasions, including a second-place finish in 1991. Matt Scott and Jake Easter teamed up to win a state doubles championship. Though Steinmeyer never had the luxury of a full-time assistant coach, he credited Steve Shockley for years of volunteering and his wife, Martha Steinmeyer, for all her support. He coached at Jeff City until 1998.

“Coach was very humble,” Keller said. “He didn’t live to excess, didn’t drive the big, fancy car. It was never about that with him. What he instilled in us from a humility standpoint was, ‘Hey, let your performance speak for itself. When you’re out on the court, it makes no difference where you’re from, what your background is.’

“In terms of how he lived his life, he instilled into all of us that same attribute of ‘Hey, give it your all. Give it your best. But you don’t need to be cocky and arrogant.’”

'Completely Selfless'

One of his standout boys’ competitors at Jefferson City, Jason Falzone, noted Steinmeyer would frequently make the long drive from Jeff City to St. Louis so his teams could compete against the state’s best competition.

“I think of him as a kind man that, frankly, is a little bit more old-school,” said Falzone, who now works as director of tennis at Vetta Sports in St. Louis. “You put your head down. You work hard. You give your best effort. I don’t think we over-intellectualized things. But I found him to be a gentle, kind, determined, hard man. He just had high standards for people.”

Steinmeyer, a longtime PE teacher, built up the numbers in his tennis programs by working summers for the Jefferson City Park Board and the Jefferson City Area YMCA. Falzone said Steinmeyer would frequently check in on his players to make sure they were getting on court and knocking the tennis ball around. Falzone called him “a workhorse.”

“He was completely selfless,” Falzone said. “He had a high school team maybe he was trying to prep for, but this is what he did. He was a coach. He mentored. He was around the sport. And I think probably looking back these are the type of people he identified with.”

After his retirement, Steinmeyer taught tennis for two decades at the Jeff City YMCA. The tennis courts there were named in his honor in 2018. Steinmeyer’s son, John, now serves as tennis director and teaching professional at that YMCA. Steinmeyer was previously inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2021.

“My grandpa stands for humility, and he’s a man of faith,” Morris said. “He loves people, and I think that’s the most important thing about him. He loves seeing people do well. And I hope I continue to be like that and try to embody what he does.”

Learn more about the USTA Missouri Valley Hall of Fame by clicking here. Register to see Steinmeyer get inducted into the hall of fame by clicking here.