Scott Steele
Randall Scott Steele is an American competitive sailor, World Champion and Olympic Silver Medalist
Career
At the 1984 Summer Olympics, Steele finished in 2nd place in the men's Windglider sailing/windsurfing competition.Prior to that, he was honored as a two-time All American Intercollegiate sailor while at St. Mary's College of Maryland. Scott was the first All American from St. Mary's along with his teammate in 1979, Monty Spindler, and was honored into the St. Mary's College of Maryland Hall of Fame in 1990. While at St. Mary's, Scott learned how to Windsurf from his brother Ron, and helped bring Windsurfing to St. Mary's. Around his Intercollegiate sailing schedule for St. Mary's, Scott occasionally attended a Windsurfing competition but remained a sailor first through his college years. Upon graduating college, Windsurfing was simultaneously named as a new Olympic sport. The timing was good so he tried out and made the US Boardsailing Team. His first job out of college was with Mark Lindsay Imports a perfect match. In the Fall of 1981, Scott attended the Windglider World's in Palamos, Spain and finished 4th out of over 100 competitors marking the beginning of an Olympic campaign as a US Boardsailing team member under Coach Major Hall. Scott finished in the top 10 of the Windglider World's each year after that, 1982 and 1983.
Also, racing the Windsurfer brand sailboard, Scott won both his class in the 1982 American Championship, and the 1983 Windsurfer World Championships with several hundred competitors in each. Over this time, Scott competed successfully in many other sailboard classes including the highly competitive Mistral class. Mistral Windsurfing became a supporter of Scott and eventually his employer. Scott had impressive results racing the Mistral Class winning Midwinter and National Championships as well as a 4th in the 1983 Mistral World's, and 5th at the 1984 Mistral World's. The 1984 Olympic year, he was challenged fiercely at the US Olympic Trials as only 1 competitor per country could earn the right to compete at the Olympic Games. It was a hurdle that Scott cleared but was pushed extremely hard by his US challengers.
Going into the 1984 Summer Olympics, Scott chose to train in Corpus Christi, TX with US training partners as well as the New Zealand Olympic entry, Bruce Kendall. Although not favored to win Medals, both Scott and Bruce proved that their training together produced Olympic Medals! Afterwards, Scott worked closely in a variety of ways with Mistral Windsurfing, did advertising campaign's for Chanel and others as well as becoming a consultant coach for upcoming Olympic aspirants. He tried a comeback for another Olympics, doing well by finishing 2nd at the 1987 Pre-Olympics in Pusan, Korea but in the 1988 US Olympic Trials, he did not qualify and instead coached the U.S. representative, Mike Gebhardt, at the 1988 Summer Olympics. Scott continued to coach for US Sailing while also working with Mistral through the early 90's. His life revolved around helping the US team and himself prepare for the upcoming Olympic Games, and competed in the 1990 Goodwill Games finishing with another Silver Medal. He was recognized that year for his Sportsmanship in the event whereby he witnessed for the eventual Gold Medalist from Poland. He earned US Sailing's Van Alan Clark Sportmanship Award, as well as being nominated for the Jack Kelly Fair Play and James Sullivan award. Later in his third quadrennium, Scott went to another Pre-Olympic competition against the World's best and finished with another 2nd place finish. The 1992 US Trials proved to be a highly competitive event that Mike Gebhardt would eventually win. Mike would finish with a Silver in the Barcelona Olympic Games. After those years and Scott began having children, while he coached the Georgetown University Sailing Team in the 90's, worked for Vanguard Sailboats from 1997 to 2007 then after a brief stint wholesaling sails, entered retail sail making with Ullman Sails. He continues to coach sailing, helping sailors of all levels!