• Key player on the Golden Bears basketball team that won four consecutive conference titles (1949-53) and the Edmonton Town Hallers, an Edmonton senior men's team that challenged for national championships.
• Wilson Challenge Trophy winner in 1953.
• Had a ten-year career with the Edmonton Eskimos (1949-58), during which time the team won three straight Grey Cups (1954-56).
• The first U of A Athletic Director (1956-62).
• Head coach of Golden Bears football (1959) and basketball (1957-62).

Dr. Stephen Mendryk is a Canadian original in teaching, research and writing in sports medicine, athletic therapy, safety, and injury prevention in sport. He attained a bachelor's degree at the University of Alberta in 1953, an M.A. from California, Berkeley in 1960 and a Ph.D. in physical education from Oregon in 1966. A widely respected scholar, he has authored or co-authored 50 articles in scientific and professional journals, including chapters in standard sports medicine texts. His graduate students have gone on to become leaders in the field in Canada and other countries. He has been a member of the Canadian Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation since 1949 and was a founding member of the Canadian Association of Sport Sciences. In 1966, he was one of the first Canadians to become a Fellow of The American College of Sport Medicine. His leadership and collaboration with athletic therapist Ray Kelly and Dr. David C. Reid, laid the groundwork for the establishment of the Glen Sather University of Alberta Sports Medicine Clinic, a world leading facility.

Steve Mendryk's academic successes were an extension to a sparkling career as an amateur and professional athlete and similarly as a high school and university coach. Edmonton-born, Steve attended Victoria High School and as a key player led senior teams to provincial championships in both football and basketball. In those same years, he was active in community sport and played on city or provincial winners in junior soccer, intermediate basketball, midget hockey, junior men’s baseball and senior men’s fastball. In 1948, prior to attending university, Steve married Jeanne Christiansen, who has been his inspiration through a remarkable athletic and professional career. They have one son and two daughters.

In the mid-1950's he coached football at Victoria and Westglen High Schools in Edmonton and took teams from both schools to provincial honours in basketball. At the University of Alberta, he was a major factor in four straight Western basketball championships (1949-53). He captained the Bears in his last two seasons. A host of all-star honours were capped by winning the Wilson Trophy as the outstanding male athlete in 1953. During most of the 1950's, football was not played at Western universities, a situation that led Steve to embark on a 10-year career with the Edmonton Eskimos of the CFL. He was a starter as a defensive back for every game of his first five seasons, 1949-53, and helped the Eskimos win three consecutive Grey Cups, 1954-56.

Basketball remained an important aspect of his life after graduation. He was a mainstay at guard for the Henry Singer Town Hailers, challengers for the Canadian Senior championship from 1954-57. At the university level, he was Director of Athletics from 1956 to 1962, coached Golden Bear Basketball from 1957-62, leading them to a Conference championship in 1960, and was the head coach of the Bears football team when Western university competition was resumed in 1959.