In college, his basketball coach called him “Mr. Hustle” and in high school and college he was always “Mr. Persistent”. Morris H. “Mush” Sterneck, a 1951 SCHS graduate, went on to serve as captain of the University of Illinois basketball team during the 1954-55 season.

Sterneck participated in basketball and track during his high school years, and participated in basketball and baseball at the University of Illinois. He was a consistent and game-wise player on the basketball court, on the baseball field, and on the track.

He exemplified his “persistent” tag in track. On a particularly rainy, cold day during a North Egypt Conference meet, Sterneck ran “his” race and won the mile run by doggedly staying in his routine. The time wasn’t nearly as good as the effort but he won the race.

Sterneck was a member of the Fighting Illini varsity basketball and baseball teams. In basketball, his sophomore year, he was a teammate of Hall of Famer Jim Bredar, a senior, who was captain that year.

During Sterneck’s senior year at the University of Illinois, there was a runoff election for captain between Ed Makowsky and Sterneck. Makowsky was elected but became scholastically ineligible and left school. Coach Harry Combes appointed Mush as captain.

Sterneck lives in St Louis County and is active in many community pursuits in addition to a variety of business ventures. He was president of the St. Louis Football Cardinal Quarterback Club before the Cardinals moved to Phoenix.

In high school, as president of the Hi-Y Club, he was one of the leaders in the revival of the all-school homecoming that had been dormant for two decades.