This is the fourth in a series of nine articles profiling the 2012 inductees into the Butler High School Athletic Hall of Fame.BUTLER TWP — For Steve Heasley, patience was indeed a virtue.The 1969 Butler graduate did not crack the starting lineup for the high school boys gymnastic team until his senior year.Heasley remains active in the sport today, however, and has used it to gain induction into the Butler High School Athletic Hall of Fame as a coach.Heasley and his eight fellow inductees will be recognized with a 5 p.m. reception Sept. 14 in the high school cafeteria. They will also be honored on the field prior to the Golden Tornado’s home football game with Pine-Richland that night.“When I found out about my induction, I was in shock,” Heasley said. “I didn’t even apply. I had no clue.”For a long time, he wondered how he was going to break into Butler’s star-studded lineup when he was in high school.“I remember sitting in home room in eighth or ninth grade when a morning announcement over the p.a. system said anyone interested in trying out for the boys gymnastics team, report to the auditorium after school.“A couple of buddies and me always flipped around the playground, just messing around. We decided to try this thing and 50 kids showed up for tryouts during the first week.”Heasley described coaches Paul Uram and Dave McKinnis as “master motivators and tremendous promoters” of the sport.“We used to fill both sides of the gym for the home meets,” he said. “They use to hold assemblies to promote the sport to the student body.“The tradition was built by Paul Uram. This school had a lot of great gymnasts. We produced state champion after state champion after state champion.”When Heasley did crack the lineup his senior year, he wound up placing seventh in the state meet. He went on to Slippery Rock University and was named team captain of the men’s gymnastics team there.Heasley was twice named outstanding college athlete of the year at The Rock.“My growth spurt didn’t hit until college,” he said. “I probably gained six inches and 50 pounds. SRU was a national power back then. We competed against Division I opponents.“My interest in coaching developed under (SRU coach) Steve Banjak. I worked camps with him over the summers.”Heasley went on to compile a 54-2 record as head coach of the Butler High girls gymnastics team from 1977-82. The team won two WPIAL and two PIAA titles along with numerous individual state titles.He coached Butler’s boys team from 1977-81, again guiding numerous individuals to state titles and the team to WPIAL and PIAA runner-up finishes.“The boys practiced in the upper tier of the high school gym, the girls in the Intermediate School gym,” Heasley said. “I did a lot of hopping back and forth.“I had to bring some of my own equipment to practice, had mats on top of my car to transport thedm ... It was kind of crazy.”But gymnastics was the sport he loved.Heasley opened the Butler Gymnastics Club in 1974 and still runs the business today. He has coached hundreds of state champions, a national champion in Natalie Beilstein, and has helped 12 gymnasts gain college scholarships.”“Rich Pribis and I shared an apartment together after college and decided to open a place where we could teach the sport,” Heasley said. “We began at a small facility in Lyndora and it just kept growing.”Heasley taught in the Butler Area School District for 34 years and was inducted into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame in 2000.