He enrolled at the University of Southern California (USC), where he played college football for the freshman team in 1926 and for the varsity from 1927 to 1929.
[1] As a senior, he played for 1929 USC team that won the Pacific Coast Conference championship, defeated Pittsburgh in the 1930 Rose Bowl and has been retroactively recognized by some selectors as the national champion.
Prior to the 1930 season, Steponovich and two of his USC teammates, Nate Barragar and John Ward, signed with the Minneapolis Red Jackets of the National Football League (NFL).
[1] Steponovich and his USC teammates Barragar and Ward finished the 1930 season with the NFL's Philadelphia franchise, known as the Frankford Yellow Jackets.
[8][9] His Riverside Junior College teams won only one conference game in two years, and he was replaced as head coach in March 1950.