Steve Katzel

Thomas Baldwin Steve was always making everyone around him laugh. I will miss that about him the most!

Claire Baldwin Steve was always kind and he shared his sense of humor with everyone. Losing him will take much away from our lives. But what I will take away from this sad experience is that I need to be more like him. No matter what his current circumstance, Steve would always show up, always participate and always be present. He went to see Murder On The Orient Express and Frozen 2 for our birthdays even though those aren’t his type of films; he went to Disney World even though his legs were in pain; he helped set up at our wedding; he was at every pumpkin parade and Bubbie party; he played in a nerf gun battle even though he couldn’t run. Steve would be at the games nights, breakfasts , dinners or anywhere we asked for support in our lives. The time I will remember most is at one game night. Sarah and I just sat down in the living room and we were tired. But Gracie wanted to play a game. We both said, “No, we’re too tired.” But Steve said, “I’ll play with you, Grace.” She was so happy! It’s such a simple act of kindness, but Steve was always doing little acts of kindness. And those add up to a great human being. I’ll miss you, Steve. You were the best Bubbie

Thomas Baldwin This last November all the Bubbies went to Disney World. I was so excited to finally get to fly the Millenium Falcon. Steve being the friend he is, let me be the pilot. He showed me the ropes. I remember how much he was laughing as I crashed into everything! I could not ask for a better co-pilot.

Jason Schifferer Steve was great about keeping in touch. He would just call out of the blue to say hi and joke around. This past Saturday he called up Chad and me on Facetime and we talked stuff like potentially planning a camping trip with the Bubbies and maybe going back up the New Glarus to hit up a German restaurant that had a polka band, which we had done once before. Later in the conversation he was getting a bit out of the Facetime frame so we thought it would be funny to position Steve's locks on top of Chad's head. Steve cracked up at the pics and said Chad would look amazing with his hair like that. I took a few more screengrabs of the call just because I had to capture Steve's laughing when he did get into the frame. Steve was such a great guy to know and so fun to be around.

James Wallace Steveo sleeping in my car in Ohio. The snoring was awful, but hearing it again now would be sweet music to my ears. Cant wrap my head around this one, love you Steve.

Curt Harrison Steve was one of my best friends. One of the best memories I have aside from all the fun ones is when he came up to the hospital when my daughter was born, brought her a welcome gift and hung out with Jennifer, our new baby Harmony and I for a good portion of the day. Steve was a sweet soul with the kindest of hearts. He did the same thing when my son was born. He also loved to mess with me any chance he’d get. One example is for as long as I’ve known him, any time he had to write out my name, like in a group text for example, he’d spell it wrong. I’d be Kurt, Cert, kiert, Quirt Etc. NEVER Curt .Dammit Steve, I know you know how to spell my name! You will be greatly missed my friend. Love you much❤️

Sarah Katzel Words cannot really say how I feel about the loss of Steve. His presence was special. He often wasn’t the one who was talking or the loudest but he always, always made me laugh. I felt his love too, without him saying it. Every game night, every holiday, every family dinner, it will not be the same without Steve and his great sense of humor. One of my favorite places to be with Steve was Disney World, we have so many great memories of our family trips there. One of my favorites was the time that he and I rode the tea cups and Steve spun us so fast I thought our cup was going to fly off. I laughed the whole time, we both did. I’ll have to find that pic of us because we are just a blur. We always rode that ride together. Steve I love you and I’m so sad, thank you for being such an awesome brother (in law) and a super fantastic uncle to Grace. Love you. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Caleb Jennings When I transferred to Larkin Junior year Steve welcomed me and introduced me to an amazing crew of friends. He and I worked together at Villa Olivia. He would pick me up for work everyday in that tiny Datsun. We would always be sharing our latest find in music. We used to love to mess with the kids on the tow rope and ski lift by just randomly stopping it and turning it back on. His laugh & his grin!! He was an amazing loving dude. He will always be loved. My heart goes out to the Katzel family.

Curt Harrison Camping 2000 Spring Green Wisconsin.

Joe Hedlund Steve was truly a special person. I was lucky enough to experience a few adventures with him through our Rugby Club. I also got to hear him play with a couple of his bands that he was involved in. I'm not surprised to see all the love that is being shared here for him. I will miss him dearly. Thank you Steve, for all the joy you brought us.

Caleb Jennings We were just babies out high school 1995/1996 ish. Miss those day. Miss you Steve.

Erin Snowwhite Katzel..... Lots of memories and good times, College Park days, camping, house parties, egg potato and chorizo burittos, punk rock shows.....Katzel made me feel like the annoying little sister but he tolerated me. My most recent memory, not too long ago, Dan and I were just sitting at home watching tv...when the doorbell rings, and its a delivery guy with a large double dough pizza, cheesy breadsticks, and a 2 liter of diet coke. He showed us the receipt it was indeed for us and already paid for. We were dumbfounded....then Katzel calls us and says.."so, how's the pizza?" Man...You know the way to a woman's heart Steve!!😍🍕 He was a special guy that everyone loved to pieces and I can feel some comfort knowing that he knew he was loved by so many. My love and prayers to his family and friends. Sincerely, Erin (Cook) Snowwhite

Rob Kellenberger I was on the football team at kimball middle school, and we played Abbott middle school for our only loss that year. I played center and some dude on defense kept throwing me to the ground, hopping over me and sacking our quarterback. I tried everything, but couldn’t stop him. The next year at Larkin Highschool, my friend, Despina Karas, introduced me to steve because she knew we both played music. After years of playing music together we had a conversation one day about playing football in middle school, and I was telling him about this guy from Abbott who was dominating me the whole game. We died laughing when we realized that he was the monster from Abbott destroying me play after play. Steve was so multitalented and a true joy to be around. I’m so glad I had the chance to be his friend.

Christopher Heilemann The day we got to record at Electrical Audio with the legendary Steve Albini

Shawn Bowers Steve was by far one of my favorite people to jam with. He was a great songwriter/collaborator and we wrote a lot of cool stuff together and he wasn’t afraid to tell me”Maybe you shouldn’t be doing that there” a time or two. I totally respected his opinion those times. Steve had a great sense of humor. He made me feel funnier somehow. Whether we’d be jammin or hangin out or whatever we’d always be laughing about something. Life is funny, I guess. I’m going to miss him a lot.

Bryan Katzel Steve was so incredibly accepting of everyone, up for everything with a smile and a laugh. Most people were surprised when they showed up for their RPG session of The Mall Maul and found out that it was a shopping adventure created and run by a girl who was like 13. Half the table left, Steve stayed and loved every second of it.

Robert ARNOLDE Why we play the game - By Rupert McCall When the battle scars have faded And the truth becomes a lie. And the weekend smell of liniment Could almost make you cry. When the last ruck’s well behind you And the man that ran now walks It doesn’t matter who you are The mirror sometimes talks Have a good hard look old son! The melon’s not that great The snoz that takes a sharp turn sideways Used to be dead straight You’re an advert for arthritis You’re a thoroughbred gone lame Then you ask yourself the question Why the hell you played the game? Was there logic in the head knocks? In the corks and in the cuts? Did common sense get pushed aside? By manliness and guts? Do you sometimes sit and wonder Why your time would often pass In a tangled mess of bodies With your head up someone’s arse? With a thumb hooked up your nostril Scratching gently on your brain And an overgrown Neanderthal Rejoicing in your pain! Mate – you must recall the jersey That was shredded into rags Then the soothing sting of Dettol On a back engraved with tags! It’s almost worth admitting Though with some degree of shame That your wife was right in asking Why the hell you played the game? Why you’d always rock home legless Like a cow on roller skates After drinking at the clubhouse With your low down drunken mates Then you’d wake up – check your wallet Not a solitary coin Drink Berocca by the bucket Throw an ice pack on your groin Copping Sunday morning sermons About boozers being losers While you limped like Quasimodo With a half a thousand bruises! Yes – an urge to hug the porcelain And curse Sambuca’s name Would always pose the question Why the hell you played the game! And yet with every wound re-opened As you grimly reminisce it Comes the most compelling feeling yet God, you bloody miss it! From the first time that you laced a boot And tightened every stud That virus known as rugby Has been living in your blood When you dreamt it when you played it All the rest took second fiddle Now you’re standing on the sideline But your hearts still in the middle And no matter where you travel You can take it as expected There will always be a breed of people Hopelessly infected If there’s a teammate, then you’ll find him Like a gravitating force With a common understanding And a beer or three, of course And as you stand there telling lies Like it was yesterday old friend You’ll know that if you had the chance You’d do it all again You see – that’s the thing with rugby It will always be the same And that, I guarantee Is why the hell you played the game! Cheers to Big Steve Katzel "The Great One" gods new tight head prop. To many memories have come up in the past few days, but there wasn't a better one than the one pictured above. 3 prop scrum that made other front rows scared to look at us. Love you brother rest easy.

Deanna Belos I got to know Steve from hanging out at the Usuals practice. He was always laughing and always made me laugh. He had so many great stories. The pickle dog! Yah WHATEVA! I loved watching him play guitar. I also loved watching him pick on the dudes. And pick on me. It was an honor to be picked on by him. Right, Kurt?! And he’d make me laugh so hard when he’d complain it was less like band practice with smoke breaks and more like smoke practice with band breaks. I would bug him all the time about music. He remembered everything and he had all the answers to all the questions I had about my favorite Elgin and Chicago 90s punk bands. Our encyclopedia, as Jeremy said. And as I always called him, a CPL (Chicago Punk Legend). He recently texted me out of the blue and told me “I finally get your songs.” And I said “oh yeah? ” and he said, “yeah, they took a year and a half to download.” I am so lucky I got to have him as a friend. So lucky I got to play and attend shows with him, all the band trips we went on. Recording. Olney, Gainesville. “You don’t know shit about farts.” Calling him “Flea-ve Katzel” when he’d play bass. His 40th birthday party, when we couldn’t stop laughing at that amazing sign on the Jumbotron. He always pronounced acoustic like “a cue stick.” He introduced me to Moscow mules and Mickey’s with the dumb riddle on the underside of the caps. I’m going to miss him so much. I already do. I’ll cherish my memories of Steve forever. Love and miss you, Stevie. Hit the high note.

Katie Haney-Rizvi The last time we saw Steve was at Holbrook's housewarming. He was looking really good and it was great to catch up. At some point during conversation he said "hey, look at this". He unzipped his hoodie and had a unicorn shirt on. He said it was from his niece. You could tell he was a proud uncle! More good memories were of all the NIU Huskies games we would go to. Pregaming, post gaming, post post gaming late into the night. Grilling way too much meat on our little smokey joe! Going to miss you!

Josh Holbrook If you remember Steve from high school then I know you remember his 2 shirts he had on everyday,I used to mess with him and ask if he had a closet full of just these 2 shirts

Sarah Katzel I always remember my uncle Steve for being a kind, fun, and funny person. He always made me happy and was a great person to be around I was never hesitant to talk to him and play with him. My life could never be the same without him, I’m heart broken, my love will always be with him and he will always be in my heart. No matter what we do, game night, vacations, playing the video games in the basement, would never be the same with him not there to make a good joke or make me happy. I really love that he wasn’t shy to share his love for me with anyone around. He’d let me sit on his lap and use his phone and I’d give him many hugs. No matter how high or how low I looked I could never find a better uncle then STEVE KATZEL he was one of the best friends i could EVER have and my love for him will never, ever die. Love you, uncle Steve❤️❤️❤️ Gracie

Mike Alfini I will never know a better person.

Eric LeFeber My most recent memories of Steve revolve around our DCC games. His humor and his infectious laugh always kept things lively and fun. I’ll never forget how determined he was to grab a magic sword from a dragon treasure horde even when the floor was crumbling beneath our feet. While my halfling scurried out of the room as fast as his little legs could carry him, Steve lingered, got the sword, and escaped to adventure another day. But the memory that has been most in my thoughts since I heard the news was the day of our “Warpo friends and family” party in Bryan’s back yard. Bryan, Tommy, and I were busy greeting and thanking everyone when I snuck away for a minute to grab a hot dog. I bumped into Steve at the grill and we sat down together. He must have noticed I was a little stressed-out by everything going on and he just asked me how I was doing. We chatted for a little bit as we ate and I don’t remember exactly what we talked about but I do know that I felt better afterward... and ready to go back into the fray. I’m glad to have known both the empathic and thoughtful Steve as well as the fun and boisterous one.

Cj Heimberger The 4 Squares recording at Atlas in Chicago.

Penny (Sokody) Spaniel Steve and I go back to Mr. Sawlis's science class at Abbott Jr. High where he was my deskmate. One day we got to talking about music and he showed me 7 Seconds 'Walk Together Rock Together' asking if I knew about them (no). When I discovered they'd covered 99 Red Balloons, I asked if I could borrow his cassette tape. I did, for probably far too long, but he never bugged me about that. Steve was..."was"...that feels so wrong... Steve was one of a kind, as cliche as that is to say, and one of my favorite people to see out and about. He had an impressive cartwheel, and taught me secret rugby chants. I will miss him in the world.

Chad Kellenberger Always up for an adventure or down to play games, Steve was the greatest of guys and truly an incredible friend. His enthusiasm was infectious, his heart enormous, and his humor unmatched. He would keep me laughing for hours. The times I spent with Steve are bright spots in my life. I'll miss you, Steve. You were the best!

Cj Heimberger

Deanna Belos

Shawn Bowers 🥰

Eric Grossmann I've known Steve for 20+ years and probably first met him when The 4-Squares played a show at the American Legion in Lake in the Hills in maybe 1997 or 1998? I found this picture of him that I took back in 2000/2001 when The Brokedowns played with Biscayne in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. It reminds me of that classic Steve Katzel smile/laugh that none of us will ever forget. He called and left me a message pretty much every year on my birthday. I'm really going to miss his birthday voicemails. They were the best.

Doug Melahn Here goes. I met Steve in the halls of Larkin in the beginning of my freshmen year of high school. We came up to each other wearing the same Seven Seconds shirt and had that Step Brothers movie moment where they looked at each other and said “Did we just become best friends”? That is truly what Steve was to me, along with a brother in crime, skating friend, eventually an uncle to my kids. We loved all the same music and talked often about life moving forward. Steve and I talked on a regular basis, joking that we had to kill an hour a day while at work speaking to one another. We often joked that we were going to write a book together. This Book was simply titled, You know punk rock is getting old when....... I wish I had jotted them all down, we had tons. This created lots of laughter between him and I, which we all know was a truly infectious laugh coming from Steve. Those things I will cherish the most about Steve and say this with a very heavy heart, but I am glad to have gotten the time I was given to share with my best friend. I miss you deeply Steve. I will continue to have our talks and know your listening and laughing. I love you old friend. Rest easy till we meet again. Dougger

Mark Marshall I met Steve in 7th grade at Abbott, before music we played football 7th and 8th grade unbeaten for 2 years. This photo was taken in the Stamp’s basement this would have been back in the acid Green Day’s, shortly before slugbug formed. I have played with many bass players, Steve will always be my favorite. 💔 Rest In Peace my friend

Thomas Baldwin Steve was an amazing friend who always made me laugh and feel welcome. He was always available to help and support where he could. He made everyone around him feel valued with his teasing and kind nature. I remember when we were at Whispering Canyons and we both ordered a large iced tea. The waitress brought Steve a gallon jug and me a thimble-sized glass. He laughed so hard I thought he was going to bust. When Steve laughed you could not help but laugh right along with him. I also remember riding space mountain with Steve on our first Bubbie's trip. He giggled the entire time. It made me laugh so hard my stomach hurt. He was a great listener too. He had an unassuming and genuine way to show he cared what you were saying. I remember our talks on the phone when we both were supposed to be working or sitting next to him on game nights. He always made every event infinitely better with his hysterical wit and caring attitude. It's devastating to imagine a world where I can't call my friend up on the phone, or lean over and chat with him when the game is running slow, or get to laugh on rides with him. I am so thankful for his friendship and the time I got to spend with him. I will miss ya Steve and I love ya!

Sarah Katzel Steve truly was an amazing uncle to Grace. She adored him, and these pictures show the sweet bond they shared. Love you Steve ❤️

Matthew Bobulski The malls are closed and I couldn’t find a proper airbrush artist, so I had to make do. Anytime i was stuck in Sycamore, whether it was a few weeks or a year, Steve Katzel was the first to message me “uh hey, wanna come to band practice on Tuesday?” He went out of his way to introduce me to all his friends and get me out of the house when I had nothing else to do. Everyone accepted me and was friendly, but my favorite part was always the long car rides with just me and him hearing the history of Elgin. Making fun of Curt Harrison was a close second. Also, it amazed me at how good at Irish goodbyes he was. I’m happy as I got older we became closer and saw him more often than just on Christmas Eve. A month or so ago I heard about his back injury and it’s the same as I’ve been dealing with the last year. I took the step to reach out to him and we talked on the phone for the first time in a long time and I’m incredibly thankful I had those last few classic steve phone calls. “Alllllllllllright. Bye.” Click. Lastly, Steve bought my guitar from me a couple years ago. He paid me more than it was worth and it seemed he never really used it. I think it was just his way of helping me out when I was struggling and told me it was mine when ever I came back. I don’t even think he knew how much that helped me out when I was struggling the most. This photo would always pop up whenever he’d messaged me and especially for that one year i lived in Sycamore it was what i looked forward to every week. Thanks Steve.

Thomas Baldwin Happy Birthday, Stevey I am sure we would be heading out to Arlington today to celebrate! Those trips to the track were always a day full of fun, food, and laughs. Miss you a ton!!!