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When he was coming through grade school in the mid-1970s, all that was available for him was flag football through the Park Rec. Organized tackle football didn’t start until seventh grade.
These days, Kosidowski is making sure kids get the opportunity to play tackle football at a young age. He’s in his fourth year as league director of the Morrie Miller Youth Football League — a program set up for fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students in Winona and surrounding communities. It’s a program that’s grown to more than 200 players and eight teams, including five from Winona, two from Lewiston-Altura and one from Houston.
“I was talking with Marty Werden, who I played high school football with, and we were thinking what it would have been like if we had this opportunity in fourth, fifth and sixth grade,” Kosidowski said. “My first memory of playing football was punting in the street with my dad (Duane).”
Kosidowski left a lasting memory as a player at Winona Senior High School and Winona State University. He jumped into the starting lineup at WSHS as an offensive and defensive tackle at the start of his junior year in 1981. A year later, while helping lead the Winhawks to a 7-2 season (the two losses came by a combined three points), the 6-foot-3, 250-pound Kosidowski made quite a name for himself.
For starters, he made the all-Big Nine Conference team as a defensive lineman. He was also first-team Associated Press All-State as a punter (he averaged 43.8 yards on 33 punts). And to boot, he was selected to WCCO Radio’s All-State team as an offensive tackle.
The following summer, Kosidowski was a member and captain of the Outstate team in the Minnesota High School All-Star Game.
“Steve had the size, but he was so quick,” said Bob Urness, who coached Kosidowski in high school. “He could pursue sideline to sideline. Teams used to run away from Kosi, but he ran them down. That was his real asset. He was a very smart athlete.”
Kosidowski also lettered for two years on the basketball team, but missed most of his senior year after breaking a bone in his wrist in the season opener.
College coaches liked what they saw in Kosidowski. He was recruited by North Dakota, North Dakota State, South Dakota, South Dakota State, Augustana and Mankato State.
He chose Mankato State, but his stay was brief.
“They showed me a lot of things when they were recruiting me that didn’t materialize as soon as I got there,” Kosidowski said. “I stayed with them for a week and a half or two weeks and then told the coach I was leaving. I don’t regret that decision at all.”
Kosidowski then enrolled at WSU and coach Myron Smith invited him to join the football team. He played sparingly as a freshman, then stepped into the starting lineup as a defensive end his sophomore year. The rest, you could say, is history.
His 18 career sacks ranks seventh all-time at WSU, and his 10 sacks in the 1986 season is the fifth most in team history.
He was selected to the all-Northern Intercollegiate Conference team in 1985 and ’86. Kosidowski made the NAIA All-District 13 team as a junior and was an honorable-mention All-American and team MVP his senior year in 1986.
“I made some awesome friends and relationships that will last forever at Winona State,” Kosidowski said. “It was positive every which way. I had the luxury of going to school in my hometown. I got to meet some great kids from the area, like Bill Ihrke of Houston, Tom Balow of Lake City and Dan Eickhoff of Wykoff. Defensively, we were tough.”
Shortly after his playing days at WSU, Kosidowski got a phone call from WSHS Athletic Director Don Klagge, wanting to know if he was interested in joining the Winona High football coaching staff. Klagge didn’t have to ask twice.
Kosidowski started as the B-squad coach and worked his way up to defensive coordinator of the varsity team. He was on the staff for nine or 10 years, working under Urness, Ihrke and Jeff Erdmann.
“It speaks highly that a former athlete wants to come back and help develop younger players in your program,” Urness said. “We were blessed to have kids who played in our program come back to help out. We were scrambling to find coaches back then. When you can find people who know your system, it’s that much easier.”
There would be more coaching still to come. When his son, Conor, joined the youth tackle league six years ago, Kosidowski began coaching again. He’s been involved in coaching or the administrative part of the youth program since.
“I thought I could be a father and just come and watch my son,” said Kosidowski, who also has two daughters, Greer and Sela. “A couple other parents talked me into helping out on the coaching end. My second year into it, Pat Bowlin (the former league director) said he’d like to hand it over to someone. I told him to give me a year. I took over the next year.”
If there’s a philosophy Kosidowski tries to get across to young athletes, it’s that anything can be accomplished with teamwork.
“I was only as good as I was because of the people around me,” he said. “My favorite quote is from the movie ‘A League of Their Own,’ when Tom Hanks tells Gena Davis ‘If it was easy, everyone would do it.’
“That’s what makes team sports so fun. It’s amazing what you can do together. I hope more young athletes understand that.”
