The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) is celebrating Black History Month by highlighting contributions of former student-athletes, coaches and administrative personnel. During the month, the PSAC will feature one person from each campus via social media on the PSAC social media accounts.
 
Shippensburg University's submission to the PSAC is the late Steve Hatfield '50, a SU Athletics Hall of Famer and legendary two-sport athlete who was named "Mr. Football of Canada" in 1951 as the Canadian Football League (CFL) MVP.
 
Nicknamed "The Big Train," Hatfield competed in football and track & field at Shippensburg in the late 1940s.
 
He was an overpowering 225-pound fullback in Shippensburg's single-wing offense and a rugged tackler on defense who scored seven touchdowns in his career. 
 
As a field athlete, Hatfield won four Pennsylvania Conference "PC" Championships and was an eight-time PC place-winner. Hatfield won both the broad jump and pole vault as a freshman in 1947 (22 feet, 2 ¼ inches and 11 feet, 6 inches) and as a senior in 1950 (21 feet, 11 1/8 inches and 12 feet, 5 ½ inches). He earned four all-conference finishes at the 1950 PC Championships, as he was the runner-up in the javelin and the co-runner-up in the high jump. He was also the 1948 runner-up in the pole vault and a 1947 third-place finisher in the high jump.
 
Hatfield was drafted by the New York Giants in the 17th round of the 1950 NFL Draft. He played in an exhibition game against the Ottawa Rough Riders of the Canadian Football League (CFL) on Aug. 16, 1950 in which he scored two touchdowns and intercepted two passes. He was the final preseason cut by the Giants but was soon signed by the Rough Riders thanks to the impression he made in the exhibition game.
 
In the 1950 season, Hatfield helped lead the Rough Riders to the Grey Cup title as CFL Champions. Hatfield was named "Mr. Football of Canada," the equivalent of the CFL MVP, in 1951.
 
The following year, Hatfield signed with the NFL's Chicago (now Arizona) Cardinals and made the team but was injured while filming a preseason publicity video for the team and was unable to continue his pro career. 
 
Hatfield settled in Bethlehem with his wife and children and worked a career in construction. He was inducted into the Shippensburg University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1989. A native of Bellwood and a graduate of Bellwood-Antis High School, Hatfield was inducted into the Blair County Athletic Hall of Fame in 1982. He passed away in 2007 at the age of 83.