(Have photos to go with this story? Email pics to Web and Content Editor / Director of News Dan Stickradt at stickradt@michigansoccernetwork.com and dstickradt@thepremiermediagrp.com and also list the photo credit as well.)
MICHIGAN SOCCER NETWORK: MSN NEWS: www.michigansoccernetwork.com/msnnews
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BY DAN STICKRADT
PREMIER MEDIA GROUP | MICHIGAN SOCCER NETWORK | NATIONAL SOCCER NETWORK
WEB AND CONTENT EDITOR | DIRECTOR OF NEWS
BUSINESS LINE: (248) 525-2349
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LIVONIA, Mich. – There are two things that David Hebestreit enjoyed in life more than anything else. Exploring and traveling and then soccer.
Maybe not necessarily in that order. Soccer was his favorite love.
Hebestreit, the popular teacher, soccer coach and colleague who spent time coaching in the high school, club, amateur and collegiate soccer ranks for over 30 years in the metropolitan Detroit, Ann Arbor and Toledo, Ohio, areas, passed away back on Nov. 21 at the age of 53 – sending shock waves across the Michigan and Ohio soccer communities during the past week.
It’s not so ironic that Hebestreit passed away while traveling back to Michigan after spending some time down in the Carolinas watching soccer games. He died of his third cardiac event during 2024. He was discharged from a hospital on Nov. 20 and was planning on a stop in Columbus (Ohio) on his way back. Previously, Hebestreit had a heart transplant back in 2005 and had already retired from playing by that time. He continued to teach, coach or both since the early 1990s.
“He was a huge soccer junkie, probably more than most,” said longtime friend and former teammate and coaching partner Jeff Shuk of Farmington Hills. “The guy would go anywhere to watch soccer. Anywhere. That’s where has was a couple of weeks ago, down in South Carolina watching some college soccer. He passed on his way back to Michigan (in Kentucky).”
Hebestreit, a Canton, Mich., resident who attended both Livonia Stevenson and Livonia Churchill high schools back in the mid-to-late 1980s when both of those high schools were state powerhouse programs in soccer, and later graduated from Churchill in 1989, touched a lot of lives over the years in the classroom or on the sidelines.
“When I moved home from Nevada (to my dad’s house) back in 1990, I met Dave Hebestreit. He was one of the first people I met back then at Schoolcraft College,” recalled Shuk. “Since then, he’s been one of my best friends. Dave, myself and Nate (Stovall) were very close. In fact, if Dave was still here, he would have been over my house Thanksgiving weekend for dinner. He was like family.”
An official obituary will be released soon, and both the family and friends are actively planning a celebration of life gathering sometime in December but before the Christmas week to honor the longtime soccer enthusiast, coach, teacher and friend.
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“He touched a lot of lives over the years,” noted Shuk. “I coached with him as either an assistant coach or he was my assistant. But we were very close. Dave was very (loyal) to his friends, and he was one of those guys who didn’t really have any enemies. Everyone loved Dave. And word is still getting out about this. It was only last Thursday (Nov. 21) when he passed.”
Growing up in the Livonia area, Hebestreit played college soccer for two years at Schoolcraft College before transferring to Aquinas College in Grand Rapids to finish his teaching degree and collegiate soccer career. He joined the soccer coaching ranks by the mid-1990s and later gained his Master of Education from Marygrove College in Detroit.
Hebestreit began teaching in the Livonia Schools back in the 1990s, and later coached Livonia Churchill’s girls soccer program from 1996-2002. He also had a short stint coaching boys soccer at Livonia Franklin in the early 1990s. He continued his coaching career at different levels of the soccer pyramid in Michigan and northern Ohio and beyond.
Hebestreit led the University of Michigan’s club men’s soccer team from 2007-14 before stepping down to coach on the amateur circuit. In 2015, Hebestreit became the inaugural head coach of the fledging AFC Ann Arbor men’s soccer program, an amateur soccer team that has played in different league over the past decade. The next year he made the move to Toledo United and spent a few seasons with that amateur soccer franchise. Hebestreit also coached at different levels of soccer either as a head coach or as an assistant coach and spent a great deal of his free time traveling not only the state of Michigan but the country to watch soccer games from local schools and clubs up to professional soccer.
Hebestreit first began playing soccer as an early elementary school student back in the late 1970s and spent more than 45 years as a youth, high school, college and amateur player, coach, referee and manager. He also spent time with the Canton Celtic FC (CCF) Open team, where he won two Michigan USASA Amateur Cups and two Gerhard Mengel State Cup titles. In the 2010s, his Canton Celtic U20 men’s soccer team captured the 2011 USASA National Cup Championship. Hebestreit has won state, regional and national titles as both a player and a coach.
Later in his amateur playing career, Hebestreit spent time in the USASA in both California and Michigan, suiting up with Concordia SC of San Francisco, the Detroit Arsenal and with Bill and Paul’s Sporthaus amongst others teams and franchises. He also spent time with Stal Mielecx FC of the Polish First Division and played several years in the United States Independent Soccer League (USISL).
Tributes on multiple social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter/X and Instagram, have been flowing in over the course of the last week.
“The AFC Ann Arbor family is deeply saddened by the sudden passing of our first-ever head coach, David Hebestreit. Coach Hebestreit was instrumental in building the foundation of our club, shaping its culture, and leading us to our first-ever trophy. Beyond his coaching accolades, David was a true gentleman who cared deeply for his players and the community. He will be remembered for his kindness, his humor, and his unwavering belief in the power of sport to bring people together. His passion, dedication, and leadership will forever be remembered. We extend our heartfelt condolences to his family and friends during this difficult time. His legacy will live on through the countless lives he touched in the Ann Arbor soccer community and beyond. Rest In Peace, Hebes,” said the administrative staff at AFC Ann Arbor earlier in the week on its Facebook page.
Hebestreit was also an avid writer and taught various classes at Churchill before retiring this year. He had also spent several years as an adjunct professor at Madonna University, where he was still teaching this year, and also studied on-line classes at both Old Dominion University and at the Rainer Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University over the years.
He had lived in Canton, Michigan just west of Livonia where he was raised and spent a great deal of his teaching career which spanned parts of four decades. He also coach high school bowling at Churchill and taught the yearbook class at Churchill for more than 20 years. In all, Hebestreit taught for 31.5 years in the Livonia Schools.
“I helped clean out his classroom (at Madonna University) and we found an old journal in there from 1993. In the journal it said something of the nature of “there is no one that I care for more than you”. He was talking about soccer. He loved it so much,” said Nate Stovall, one of his closest friends for some 33 years.
“Dave played high school, club, college, amateur even professionally and he also coached at a lot of different levels. He knew a lot of people.,” continued Stovall. “I met Dave in 1991 at Schoolcraft College. He was someone a little older than me and a person I looked up to at the time. We became really good friends. He was such a nice guy,” added Stovall. “When he passed away, he was heading back from South Carolina to head to Columbus.
“He had a lot planned coming up, traveling around the country and the world,” added Stovall. “Some of that included going to see some games.”
But, again, soccer was his passion. He even recently purchased boat a small boat that he was planning on using in future years, possibly buying a home down in the Caribbean after he finished teaching college courses and planned to watch games down there on various islands.
“The plan was for him was to retire somewhere down there (in the Caribbean Islands) and move his boat down there. He could even teach on-line down there,” noted Shuk. “But I don’t think he ever planned on stopping his traveling, especially to watch soccer games.
“It’s funny. He once got a coaching license in Oregon just so he could watch the Portland Timbers play. Again, I did say he was a ‘soccer junkie’. He will be missed. He touched a lot of lives in over the years,” added Shuk.
Family and friends wishing to share photos of Dave Hebestreit on Facebook can do so at https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZoE4JRMvvyhy2jWH9. There is also a Spotify link where friends and family can post songs that remind them of David Hebestreit at https://accounts.spotify.com/en/login?continue=https%3A%2F%2Fopen.spotify.com%2Fplaylist%2F54YcVEUoIsqeGuCANESMYA%3Fsi%3D6Hun5LjTR1W47ASyFCE8Iw%26pt%3De650eb588ae71a12bdfc3943e1890dcb%26pi%3DC6DOvn_FSya_S%26fbclid%3DIwY2xjawG2_rpleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHR36Ng-JvHoum3gAdERAF3SgN_xnBi1hBhXBmyIbLeUihGyiuV3epuoAsg_aem_-O57dSdOZi2DcBBNsyERsw.
“You look at all of those photos posted on Facebook – a lot of those came from former students or players he coached,” said Stovall. “He knew a lot of people and touched a lot of lives over the years.”
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