"I didn't hear from him once for 28 days," Sharon Steelman says. "Those were the longest days of my life. But as hard as it was on me, I can't imagine what it was like for him."
Occasionally, when Steelman did have a chance to check his e-mail, he would fire off a quick note to his childhood friend and high school teammate Gerry Spessard, the starting left fielder for the Terps. Steelman had been taking classes online while in Iraq and applying to schools, but he never really mentioned that he was interested in walking on at Maryland until he and Spessard bumped into each other when Steelman was back home, briefly, between his two tours.
"I gave him my coach's number, and it really just kind of snowballed from there," Spessard says. "He was rusty at first, but his arm was also fresh in a way. A lot of kids just throw so much, their arm is almost worn out by the time they get here."
After watching him throw, Rupp and Farr decided Steelman really might be able to help the team, especially in short relief. He was a project but had potential.
"It wasn't just a thing where we were keeping him just because of what he's done for our country," Rupp says. "He has some real arm strength."
Moving forward
There are times when Steelman still thinks about his friends in Iraq. When he came home, he had regular nightmares, and though they have since faded, he still does not sleep much - maybe four or five hours at a time.
"I guess my big realization is the effect the war has on the kids over there," Steelman says. "There are tons of starving kids over there. You have different sects of people who come and knock down a neighborhood one week. A different group will come and try to fix it, and build it back up. The next week, it gets knocked back down. Families are killed. Mothers, fathers, orphans. It's just a continuing cycle, and no one seems to be able to prevent it from happening."
In time, however, he was able to forge positive memories at Maryland. The criminology and criminal justice major worked hard, continued to throw in the bullpen and made friends with his teammates, occasionally answering their inquiries about what it was like in Iraq. When the day finally came that Rupp and Farr decided to insert him into a game, a 7-1 win against Coppin State on April 8, his heart was racing.
"It just hit me," Steelman says. "You just have flashes of everything that could possibly happen in your life from the time when you're a little kid up to that point. I was just like, `Wow, I'm here.' "
Steelman, a sophomore with three years of eligibility left, went on to make the travel team and pitch in a handful of big spots in conference games. He even picked up his first career victory, against Towson on May 7 to help Maryland compile a 30-win season.
None of that could really compare to that first time he made it into a game.
"I thought about all those guys I was with in basic training, all my friends in Iraq, and all my family that helped me get here," Steelman says. "It was just an honor to stand on that mound."
kevin.vanvalkenburg@baltsun.com
