Before he joined the NFL, Sacksteder was a basketball standout at the University of Dayton, then called St. Marys Institute. In the fall of 1913, Norb helped form a football team under the school's name, the St. Marys Cadets. The team's first year posted a 7-0 record. St. Mary's then won the Dayton city championship and then defeated the Cincinnati Celts 27-0 at Redland Park in Cincinnati.
Professional football
After college, Sacksteder played exclusively for the Dayton Triangles. In 1917 though he played for the Detroit Heralds.[3] In 1917, at the outbreak of American's involvement in World War I, he joined the United States Army. In 1918 Norb, under coach Greasy Neale, defeated the Hammond Pros 23-0 in Sacksteder's only known game that season. He may have been on leave from the service or perhaps simply retired for the remainder of the season.[4]
The Triangles would later become a founder of the NFL, then called the American Professional Football Association. On October 3, 1920, The Triangles defeated the Columbus Panhandles 14-0 at Triangle Park in the first game between two NFL teams. Norb was in the line-up for Dayton during that historic game.[5]
