The general secretary of the United States Soccer Federation during most of the 1990s, serving in that position during the greatest boom years the sport had seen in the United States.
When Steinbrecher took the job late in 1990, he became only the fifth secretary the federation had had in a half-century, following James Armstrong, Joe Barriskill, Kurt Lamm and Keith Walker. He was appointed to his post by Alan Rothenberg several months after Rothenberg’s election as USSF president, and stayed on for another two years after Rothenberg was succeeded by Robert Contiguglia in 1998.
During Steinbrecher’s tenure as the USSF’s chief administrator, there was tremendous growth in the federation’s operations in a variety of areas, and the United States qualified teams for nearly all the of the world championship events conducted by FIFA in those years. Those included the World Cup in 1994 and 1998, and the Women’s World Cup in 1991, 1995 and 1999. Steinbrecher was involved in organizing U.S. national teams for those World Cups, plus two Copa Americas, five CONCACAF Gold Cups and three Olympic Games.
Steinbrecher, a Gatorade marketing executive before taking the USSF position, was a former college soccer player and coach, and had served as director of the Boston soccer venue for the 1984 Olympic Games.
Inducted in 2005.
