The Santa Barbara High School football community lost another Don this week with the passing of Steve Cathcart, a former quarterback and assistant coach at the school.
Steve, 73, was the oldest of four children in the family of Sue and Sam Cathcart, the Dons’ late Hall of Fame coach.
Several other former Santa Barbara High football stars have passed away within the last two years including Sam and Anthony Cunningham, Ernie Zampese, Booker Brown and Alton Hayes.
Cathcart died Tuesday afternoon due to complications from a nearly three-year battle with Parkinson’s Disease.
He was born in Santa Barbara on March 11, 1949 — just a few months before the first of his father’s three seasons as an offensive and defensive back with the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers.
Cathcart played for his dad’s Channel League championship football team of 1966 and graduated from Santa Barbara High in the spring of 1967.
He was also the starting quarterback at Santa Barbara City College during both the 1967 and 1968 seasons. He continued his education at Fresno State where he earned a degree in physical education.
Steve served on the football coaching staff at Santa Barbara High during the tenures of head coaches Mike Moropoulos and Lito Garcia, from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s.
He was preceded in death by his beloved wife Gloria (Correa) in 2018.
Cathcart is survived by his daughter Christin, son Steve, and grandchildren Chase, Lilly and Opal, all of whom reside in the Santa Ynez Valley. He is also survived by his brothers Sam and Scott Cathcart, as well as his sister Shari Calderon.
A celebration of life will be held at the family home in Los Olivos at noon on March 11.
