Long time UK fan living in Florida loves success Mark Stoops is having

Mark Stoops and his players showed off the Citrus Bowl trophy at the UK-Tennessee basketball game. (Vicky Graff Photo)

Former Lexington resident Dan Gasteiger is 76 years old and admits he cannot believe the success coach Mark Stoops is having with UK football.

“I watched Commonwealth Stadium being built. I watched some pretty good football teams and a lot not so good. I even remember the Cats going to the Peach Bowl (in 1976),” Gasteiger said. “The past few seasons have brought back the excitement for an old man that I never thought would happen on the gridiron!

“Players like Will Levis, Wan’Dale Robinson, De’Andre Square and so many more make me proud to wear my Cats shirts and hats in front of my Gator grad wife! She even watches games with me.”

Gasteiger is originally from Florida and met his first wife, who was from Versailles, after getting out of the Navy in 1967. He visited Lexington, met some of her relatives, and fell in love with the area. They eventually moved to Lexington with “no job, no money, two kids, and a desire to prove myself to myself.”

He got a job at Harley Clemons OK Wrecker service and started following UK sports.

“UK would lose, some of the fans would leave the stadium after the game and go looking for their cars and discover after parking in the wrong spot the car was towed,” he said. “Two losses in the same day is not a lot of fun.”

However, Gasteiger was hooked on UK sports even when they had to move back to Florida for family reasons. He had the Lexington Herald-Leader mailed to him so he could follow the Cats.

His wife passed and he eventually remarried a Florida graduate who is a big Gator fan..

“Sometimes I had to watch games in the bedroom but old age and me wearing (UK) T-shirts and hats around the house finally caused her to relent. I even have her daughter watching the Cats football games,” he said. “I am still a faithful UK fan, win or lose.

“I think that hiring coach Stoops and sticking with his program has paid so many dividends that they will be talked about long after I’m gone. Here in Gainesville the UK fans  are coming out of the woods for the first time in years and are proud to do so.”