After losing mom to cancer, this son of an NFL legend says football helped him cope
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Steele Fletcher transferred to Providence Day for stronger competition and growth.
- Fletcher honors his late mother while excelling in football during junior season.
- College programs like Maryland and Virginia Tech offered scholarships based on play.
Everything changed so fast for Providence Day football player Steele Fletcher last year.
He transferred to Providence Day from nearby Charlotte Latin, a rival school where his older sister, Paige, graduated, and where his younger sister, Brooke, is now a freshman.
Steele had joined a new football team, full of elite high school talent, and a few games into his sophomore season, he was trying to earn his place, trying to fit in with new teammates and new classmates, and trying to show college scouts that, at 5-foot-6 and 145 pounds, he still had what they were looking for.
That was hard enough.
But then, in early September 2024, he lost his mother, Charne’, to breast cancer. The family, including his father, Washington Commanders legend London Fletcher — were all simply devastated. Cards and phone calls poured in from around the country. Steele also learned how close he was to his new football family at Providence Day.
“My teammates, they were big,” he said. “They were someone to lean on. Some of them came to check on me the same day. Like, they were a big support system for me during that time. They made me feel supported, like there was somebody there for me. Like, it’s bigger than football.”
Charne’ Fletcher was a week from her 50th birthday when she died, and it had been about four years since she had been diagnosed with Stage III breast cancer — on Valentine’s Day 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic. London Fletcher, her husband of 18 years, said his wife had chemotherapy, radiation treatment and a single mastectomy. And father and son both say that Charne’ never really changed as she battled breast cancer.
“She would brighten up a room with her smile,” London said. “It was just that bubbly personality, from the moment you met her.”
Charne’ was in remission for a few years before doctors told her the cancer had come back, spread and gotten worse. Doctors diagnosed her at Stage IV in 2024.
“So you’re thinking, man, it’s not curable,” London said. “But they were telling us that it should be treatable, and they’d had some success treating previous patients who’d gone through similar things.”
The plan was for Charne to have one treatment per week, likely for the rest of her life, London said. On July 25, 2024, the Fletchers got a call from the doctor. The treatments were working.
“So now,” London said, “we’re thinking, ‘OK, she’s in a sustainable space.”
Unfortunately, not long after that, things took a tragic turn. She died on Sept. 17.
My dad’s not that good
When Steele Fletcher was a kid, he told some of his friends that he didn’t think his dad could play.
Sitting down — right beside his father in an office at Providence Day last month — Steele said, with a straight face, “You know, I think he’s a decent football player. I don’t think he’s that good.”
“He’s a hater,” London shot back. “I remember when he was little and my late wife came to me and said, ‘I overheard Steele telling his friends you weren’t that good.’ I said, ‘Hold on now. I might not be great at golf and some other things. But football is not one of them.’”
That night, London Fletcher had his son watch his highlights on YouTube.
“I was a dog on that football field,” London said. “He’s a hater. But he recognizes.”
The father and son have a very enjoyable banter, a very close bond. And, by now, Steele knows his father’s story:
- Undrafted free agent out of NCAA Division III John Carroll in Ohio, he was signed by the St. Louis Rams in 1998 after running a 4.38 in the 40-yard-dash at the NFL Combine.
- Played four seasons with the Rams, five with the Bills and seven with the Commanders. Fletcher won a Super Bowl with the Rams in 1999 and made four Pro Bowls with Washington.
- Considered undersized for a linebacker at 5-10, 240, Fletcher never missed a game in his NFL career and is one of five players to play in more than 250 consecutive games. He is tied for seventh all-time in league history with 215 consecutive starts.
- In 2019, Washington added Fletcher to its Ring of Fame.
Sitting in that Providence Day office, even at 50 years old, Fletcher looks like he’s one good training camp from being in playing shape. He said his attention to taking care of his body, and keeping football as the main thing, is what kept him so good for so long.
And naturally, he sees a lot of himself in his son.
London Fletcher played with a chip on his shoulder, facing a lot of doubters, telling him he wasn’t big enough.
Well, Steele hears the exact same thing.
From pee wee to the big time
When Steele, now 17, was just starting to play football, about 11 years ago, London Fletcher went to pick up his son from football practice in Charlotte. The family had moved here in 2009 for better weather, four years before London retired from the NFL. His wife had dropped Steele off, so London did not know what his son was wearing.
But as he started walking from the parking lot, off in the distance, something caught his eye.
“I watched this kid just flying down the sidelines, cutting back and all this,” London said. “And I’m like, man, ‘This dude is out here looking like Barry Sanders or Adrian Peterson.’ And I didn’t know who it was. The teams were practicing on two different fields. I didn’t know which field he was on. But sure enough, I get there and it was him. I was like, ‘Man, this dude.’ Right there the light bulb kind of went off for me. He was just six years old.”
Like his father, Steele has never been the biggest but he has a similar no-nonsense work ethic.
As a freshman at Charlotte Latin, Steele was part of a team that lost four straight games and finished 2-9. He had 12 carries for 125 yards and two touchdowns and he caught 30 passes for 138 yards and another score. He had 252 return yards.
Last year, at Providence Day, playing with a heavy heart, Steele had 24 catches for 251 yards and four touchdowns on a team that reached the state championship game.
And now, as a 5-8, 160-pound junior with 4.5 speed in the 40, Steele’s frame has muscled up and his confidence has grown. He’s got seven catches for 98 yards in two games and ranks No. 11 nationally in punt return yards (252) and 16th nationally in kick return average (54.0).
“He’s tough as nails, just like his dad,” Providence Day coach Chad Grier said. “London, coming out of D3 and not a tall guy, had to overcome stereotypes. Steele’s the same thing. But he’s twitchy and he doesn’t just want to be good. He wants to be great. His growth from last year to this year is like watching a different kid.”
The tattoo, the memory and the future
Steele said he has college scholarship offers from Charlotte, Jacksonville State, Maryland, Sacramento State, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.
“Maryland offered him at camp last year,” Grier said, “and it wasn’t as a favor to London. He came out and performed. Virginia Tech offered him this summer and it’s not an internet offer. He’s a baller and they offered him on performance. He’s got some good film now and this year will be even better. He’s got a really high ceiling and he’s basically got two years (of high school) still left.”
Steele said the family made the decision to transfer to put him around better talent in practice and against better competition in games. Providence Day has been consistently ranked among the nation’s top 100 teams since Steele has been there and he said practices are tough — but fun.
“It was definitely hard leaving Latin,” Steele said. “I had been there my whole life. My best friend goes there. It was challenging. But I feel it’s for the better. Like, day in and day out, I’m in practice against four-star (defensive back recruits). Like, every day, I can’t slack up.”
Steele has set some big goals for himself: 10 touchdowns, 1,000 all-purpose yards, a state title.
He also said he wants to make his mother proud. He has a tattoo in her honor on his lower leg. It features a photo of Charne’ and a poem he wrote for her in elementary school.
“On Mother’s Day, we went out and played golf,” London said, “and I was asking about his mom and how he was feeling. He asked me could he get a tattoo, as kind of a tribute. And before I could think I said, ‘Yes,’ because, you know, it was important to him. His mom would’ve been totally against tattoos before he was 18. But it was meaningful to him. I was like, ‘You know what? Let him do that.’”
And Steele, with his new tattoo, are off to the kind of start he envisioned.
A year ago, Providence Day put his mother’s initials on the team’s helmets after her sudden passing. The Chargers, he said, were there for him.
Now, Steele said, he wants to do his best to be there for them, too. And he said he still hears the whispers when he plays.
That keeps him hungry.
“It’s like, he’s skinny, he’s not going to be that good,” Steele said. “And then, a few plays in, it’s ‘Oh, he’s fast. He’s quick.’ This that, and the third. I don’t really pay too much attention to that, people criticizing. I’m just focused on myself.”
He and his dad said football has been a good distraction for Steele as he continues to deal with everything.
“It’s hard,” Steele said. “I try to, like, not think about it as much as I can. Just think about other things, positive thoughts, stuff like that.”
But he said he plays for his mother.
“Every time.”
London said this could be a huge season for his son, and that he knows, deep down, that his wife is watching every play.
“It’s his junior year. It’s huge for recruiting,” London said. “But based on the way he’s played this summer and the way he’s been playing, I’m excited to see the work show this season. I think we all are.”
This story was originally published September 4, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
