He competed at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris, where he won a gold medal in the freestyle heavyweight division.

[1] Steel initially did not make the U.S. Olympic team, but the wrestler who was supposed to go ended up not being able to compete.

[2] Steel wrestled and played football at Ohio State University, where he lettered in both sports.

In his senior year, he was the undefeated Western Conference (now the Big Ten) heavyweight wrestling champion.

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