By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Hayden Catholic High School will rename its football stadium Tom Stringer Family Stadium at halftime of Friday's 7 p.m. home-opener against St. Louis, Mo.-St. Mary's South Side, honoring the memory of the school's legendary football coach, who passed away in 2025.
Hayden coaching Legend Tom Stringer, who passed away in 2025, chatted with friends during his Hayden Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2023. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
The 1979 Hayden grad, who passed away on Nov. 28, 2025 at the age of 64, was inducted into the Hayden Catholic Hall of Fame in 2023.
"It's really special because you get to re-live one of the best parts of your life,'' Stringer said on the night of his induction. "You don't know how bad you liked something until you get away from it, so this is good. I'm very proud and very grateful that I got selected to do this. It's been 17 years since I've been here and every day I think about this place. Every day.''
Tom Stringer visited with John Tetuan, the star quarterback on his undefeated 1998 Class 4A state championship team, during Stringer's Hayden Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2023. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Stringer coached football at Hayden from 1992-2006, leading the Wildcats to the school's first Class 4A state championsip in 1998 with a 13-0 record and adding a second undefeated state title in 2004.
Stringer's Hayden teams won the Centennial League championship seven times and he achieved a career record of 131-35 during his 15 years as the Wildcats' head coach.
Stringer coached in the Kansas Shrine Bowl four times, serving twice as the East head coach.
Stringer, a former All-American lineman at Pittsburg State, is also a member of the PSU Athletic Hall of Fame and the Kansas Football Coaches Assocation Hall of Fame.
