Steve Holden ’06 relished the responsibility of being a leader on the North Central College football team, helping jumpstart the Cardinals’ surge to national prominence as a standard-bearer for a new generation.
Desire to remain close to home and family shaped the college search for the highly recruited Holden, who sought a challenge on the football field and in the classroom.
“In high school, I was one of the top running backs in Illinois, so my recruitment was pretty intense,” Holden recalled. “North Central was close enough for family and friends to come to home games, and away games were even better because they offered a lot of fan buses. I had been taking honors and advanced placement classes in high school, so the academic transition was smooth as well.”
Despite his relatively small stature, Holden started all 10 games for the Cardinals as a freshman in 2002, rushing for 1,044 yards and eight of the team’s 17 rushing touchdowns. North Central posted a 6-4 record, then improved to 7-3 in 2003, the team’s highest win total in 21 years, as Holden ran for 920 yards and 10 TDs. He earned First Team All-College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) honors following both campaigns.
"I've always been the smallest guy on the field," Holden said. "I had a chip on my shoulder to prove that I played bigger than I was…I wasn't looking to break any records, I just loved playing the game of football. Everything else came secondary."
The 2004 season saw North Central begin to shift more emphasis to the passing game but Holden remained just as reliable in the backfield, gaining 980 yards on the ground despite missing two games. In a 31-24 victory over Augsburg University (Minnesota), Holden established a new single-game program record for all-purpose yards (289) and tied the existing record for rushing yards (260).
As a senior in 2005, Holden scored a career-high 11 rushing touchdowns while gaining a team-best 954 yards as the Cardinals went 9-2 and advanced to the NCAA Division III postseason for the first time. Holden was voted to the All-CCIW Second Team as a junior and senior. Just three North Central players since then have received All-CCIW honors four times.
“Being part of teams that began to make that change to become a winning program definitely feels like an accomplishment,” said Holden, who also caught 41 passes for 341 yards. “Being a dual threat, where I could go out for passes and run the ball, that put a lot of pressure on the defensive front seven to decide how to defend us.”
Holden finished his collegiate career as the Cardinals’ all-time record holder for rushing yards (3,898), total touchdowns (34), points scored (206) and all-purpose yards (4,777), and remains North Central’s record holder for rushing attempts (764).
“I‘ve always gone by the motto, ‘Do the job, big or small; do the job or not at all,’” he said. “Being a student-athlete, you have to know how to prioritize and make sure everything’s getting done to the best it can be.
“You can live with the result, whatever it is, when you know you did it to the best of your ability.”
