Lake County coach's memory lives on through foundation

The memory of a Lake County athletic coach who died late last year is living on through a foundation helping underprivileged athletes.

The Sterny Way Foundation honors Gregg Sternaman, who coached at Highland Park and Libertyville high schools and with youth programs in the area.

The Libertyville resident was 57 when he died in December following a return of the skin cancer he fought earlier in the decade.

Sternaman worked with friends, other coaches and parents of his players to create the foundation before he died.

Its first donation is a $5,000 gift to the Mooseheart Child City and School near Batavia, which will use the money to purchase new helmets, shoulder pads and other equipment for its football program.

Mooseheart is a residential school serving families that don't have stable home environments.

Libertyville High head baseball coach Jim Schurr said Sternaman's desire to help those less fortunate, even as he was dying, was typical for the man he'd known for years.

"He was a pay-it-forward guy long before he ever got sick," Schurr said. "The man just had a huge heart for kids and for sport."

Sternaman had coached football, baseball and wrestling since the 1990s at Highland Park High and was an assistant baseball coach for Libertyville's sophomore team in 2009.

A former high school athlete, he turned to coaching after a knee injury ended his playing career.

Football was Sternaman's first love, Highland Park High Athletic Director Bobbie Monroe said.

"Baseball was also a passion, but football came first in the school year and he put his heart and soul into it," she said.

That makes the donation to Mooseheart even more appropriate, Monroe said.

The donation was made during the inaugural Sterny Classic baseball game between Libertyville High and Highland Park at Miller Field in Milwaukee. Highland Park won 6-4, and with the victory came the rights to own a specially-designed traveling trophy for a year.

Monroe called Sternaman an inspiration in both life and death.

The donation to Mooseheart, she said, "is one of the finest acts you can find on the face of the earth."