 In 1919, Sternaman was contacted by executives from the Arcola football team and asked to assemble a roster strong enough to exact revenge on A. E. Staley's team following a 41–0 loss.Although Sternaman agreed, the Staleys were not present when they became aware of the plan.Staley later approached Sternaman to increase the team's competitiveness, but he declined as he was close to finishing his mechanical engineering degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.