Not far from Green Bay with its Vince Lombardi Avenue and Bart Starr Bridge, Luxemburg-Casco schools are bestowing a similar honor. Athletic Director Jenny Bandow says the late Steve Okoniewski’s six-year career as an NFL defensive lineman, including a season in Green Bay, was just one facet of the man known as “Mr. O.”
“He knew when to be tough, but he also knew, when he had to soften it up a little bit, right? But he was so effective in what he did and just touched so many people, staff, kids, community members, coaches,” Bandow told WRN.
“Mr. O” served as high school principal for 25 years until his 2014 retirement. Bandow says they’d been thinking of ways to honor Okoniewski since his death in 2024.
“Someone had come up with the idea of there’s a road right behind our school that it’s actually called School Road. Why not name the road after him? And I was like, that’s a really great idea,” Bandow said.
Signage designating Okoniewski Way goes up in time for the new school year and Luxumburg-Casco’s home football opener with Kewaskum.