GRAND MEADOW — If you’ve watched a Grand Meadow football game in the last 28 years and saw a player wearing a purple number eight on his back making a tackle or rushing for a touchdown, chances are it was a Stejskal.

The Stejskal family has served as the backbone of the Grand Meadow football program for quite some time now as the family has had at least one player on the team for 13 of the last 14 years. From 1986 to 2003, there was a Stejskal on the team for every year but one.

In all, six Stejskals have played for GM in the last quarter of a century, five of them have worn the No. 8, and five have played running back and linebacker.

“It’s been a good family. Besides being exceptional players, Deke and Anthony are exceptional coaches for us,” GM head football coach Gary Sloan said. “They’ve not only given to the program the years that they were players, they’ve done it as coaches. I’ve learned to rely on them very, very much.”

Football and family

The Stejskal football tradition started when Tom, now 63, and his brothers played football for the Superlarks back in the 1960s. Tom played nose tackle and running back, and GM was a football power in his day. His older brother helped the program rattle off a 45-game winning streak; however, Tom was on the team that saw that streak snapped.

Back then, there was no state football tournament, and teams just played out their schedules.

Tom, who graduated in 1968, is a great source to discuss the Superlarks’ history with as his three sons Deke, who graduated from GM in 1988; Blayne, who graduated from GM in 1992; and Anthony, who graduated from GM in 2003 — all played for the Larks. Deke and Anthony went on to become assistant coaches for GM, and Deke’s three sons — Quentin, who graduated from GM in in 2009; Perry, who graduated from GM in 2013; and Michael, who is a junior at GM — have all played football for the Larks.

Of course, Tom had no idea he would be the patriarch of a family that pumps out linebackers and running backs for the Superlarks for the better part of three decades during his playing days. But he’s enjoyed watching them all play.

“You just never know what the future is going to be, but Grand Meadow has always been a rich football town,” Tom said. “It’s been fun to watch these kids grow and play. I’m really proud of them.”

The elusive state title

As good as the Superlarks have been over the past 30 years, the state title had always escaped them. Deke played in the state semifinals as a junior and played in the state title game as a senior, but GM came up short both times. Perry played in the state quarterfinals in 2009 and the state finals in 2013 and was never able to celebrate a championship.

Last year, the Superlarks finally hit their stride and captured the Class Nine man state football title, the first in the program’s history.

“It was about time,” Anthony said.

GM was the No. 3 seed in its section, but the team caught fire at the right time. The win gave lifetime bragging rights to Michael, and now his brothers won’t even debate who had a better football career with him.

“We don’t really talk about who’s better that much. I think Michael’s got us beat, so we can’t really say much,” said Perry, who missed the 2013 state title game with an injury. “I was happy for him, and it was a lot of fun.”

Michael was thrilled to be the first Stejskal to be on the field for GM’s first state title, but he’s quick to credit his brothers’ accomplishments.

“I think that all of the teams were good when we all played,” Michael said. “I think that everyone had a chance to win. We just had some luck on our hands and we played our way through it. I don’t think we were that much better than when Perry was a senior. It just comes down to the playoffs.”

Deke had previously lost the state title game as a coach and player, so it was pure bliss for him to win while coaching his youngest son. The Larks were greeted in Grand Meadow by most of the town after the team got back from winning the state championship.

“It’s something that we’ll never forget,” Deke said. “We told the kids last year that they had something to do that nobody in Grand Meadow has ever done before.”

From players to coaches

One person who ties the Stejskal family bond together is Sloan, who was an assistant coach when Deke played and a head coach for the next five Stejskal’s.

Sloan is respected by the entire family, but Anthony, who now coaches under Sloan, wasn’t sure what to think of him when he was a player.

“I always thought coach Sloan was really tough and really hard on you,” he said. “I didn’t always like him as a player, but now as I’ve coached with him for eight years you get to understand why he does that. You respect it and appreciate it, and you try and follow in his footsteps and do some of the same things.”

Blayne has spent the past few years as a youth football coach for the Superlarks, and he plays a big role in getting players accustomed to the game at a young age.

He also played the role of scout during last year’s state title run. While Deke and Anthony were focusing on the next opponent, Blayne was looking at teams across the state who the Larks may eventually run into. When the match ups were determined, he had more information about the opponents than the coaching staff.

“I was always researching ahead and watching the other teams,” Blayne said. “[When we won state] it was pretty amazing. The whole town came together. It was something to see.”

When Deke got into coaching, he had to coach his own children. As a defensive coordinator, he was harder on his boys than anyone else.

It made them work hard, but it also taught them respect. Quentin said he learned a lot from his dad, his uncles and his grandfather.

“We always looked up to them and that’s where we learned everything,” Quentin said. “Before we were out here, they were on the team. We learned a lot from them.”

A tradition that lasts

When Michael takes the field for the Superlarks this fall, he may be lining up under center at quarterback, which would mark the first time any Stejskal played that position. It’s fitting that he’ll take a different path from his brothers, uncles, dad and grandfather because he is the last of Deke’s sons to come through the system.

Michael has a big advantage when he steps on the football field, because he has years of stories from his family, and he’s willing to listen to them. He also understands how much football means to GM, but that doesn’t make him nervous; it motivates him.

“Football is everything here,” Stejskal said. “We play other sports, but nothing is really the same as football. Football is where our hearts are supposed to be.”

As Michael talks there is a 10-year old boy running around wearing, you guessed it, a purple Superlark jersey with the No. 8 on the back and the name Stejskal stitched on.

The boy is Xander, Blayne’s son, and he plays center and defensive line on Blayne’s youth football team.

It’s a pretty safe bet to say that Xander will still be playing football when he gets to high school, and the Stejskal tradition will pick up again in about four or five years.

Deke credited his dad for starting the family tradition, and he was glad he and his sons could be a part of it.

“It’s been in the Stejskal blood,” Deke said. “We were all athletes growing up and we worked on the farm, and we worked hard. We didn’t always lift weights, but we worked hard on the farm doing chores and bailing hay. The old fashioned way.”

The Superlarks will open their season at LeRoy-Ostrander Aug. 29 at 7 p.m. They will host Spring Grove, one of the top contenders for the SEC crown, Sept. 5 at 7 p.m.