One Sherrard teacher found a way to bring the winter olympics to the classroom - and show students anything is possible. Sherrard Elementary fourth grade teacher Jackie Kelly invited Sherrard alumni, Olympian and former UNI track and field coach Dan Steele to speak to the fourth grade classes about bobsledding in February - in the midst of the Olympic Games Beijing 2022.
Kelly and Riley Strandgard’s classes had the opportunity to interview the bronze medal olympian by video call. Kelly and Steele were peers at Sherrard High School, graduating two years apart, Steele in ‘87 and Kelly in ‘89.
Students researched bobsledding and Steele’s background before the meeting and submitted questions to their teachers to ask during their time with him.
of Dan Steele competing in bobsledding prior
to talking with him live on video.
He was the brakeman on the 2002 USA Olympic bobsled team that earned a bronze medal in Salt Lake City, ending a 46-year medal drought in the sport for the U.S.
The conversation started with how he got involved with the sport, how it works, what it’s like to crash, and questions about his time at Sherrard.
“At first it was just track and field for me.” He said he started bobsledding at 28. “ I came close to making the Olympic track and field team, but it didn’t happen. So I had the bug, and when I had this opportunity, it looked like I had a good shot of making the team as a rookie - and I pursued it.”
His identical twin brother, Darrin, inspired him to pursue bobsledding, “Other than my brother being in it, I probably wouldn’t have pursued it.”
Students asked why the team didn’t include his brother Darrin, “We expected to race together, we planned to race together… We thought the two of us together for 4-man would make for a very fast sled.
It was fast, but our load was very bad. Sometimes the team has synergy and sometimes they don’t. This one didn’t,” he explained. “With Darrin, we didn’t have very good velocity, even though we had good start times… Unfortunately, it wasn’t going to work with both of us on the same sled. It was very disappointing for both of us.”
He described to the kids what a “brakeman” does, “Only the ‘driver’ drives the sled, the other three athletes push at the start, and then they load into the sled. After that, their only job is to stay centered in the sled - so that the center of gravity in the sled stays in the middle and as low as possible. That’s very important to maintain top speeds,” he said.
send the medal to Sherrard Elementary for
the kids to see it up close and personal.
Kelly said students were thrilled to talk to him - and even more excited when he sent the medal to the school through a friend, “It made them realize that their own dreams can come true if they work hard. The adoration they had in their eyes when they saw him online was so precious. Someone from our area went to the Olympics and won a medal! The day I brought the medal their eyes lit up and were amazed at how heavy it was.”
Students were on the edge of their seats when he described what it was like to crash on a bobsled - something that’s happened twice to Steel, “The first time it happened was the scariest moment of my life. We were already going over 80 mph when we crashed in Austria at the time. It’s very dangerous once you go over. You’ve got a 500lb sled, plus the weight of the athletes all crushing you into the ice at those speeds. It’s easy to get injured. You have to take your helmet and press into the ice to lift your whole body and sled off of the ice so your shoulders don’t melt off.”
His life advice to students, “If you’re going to do it, you’ve got to commit fully to it. Because the people you’re competing against are so good and so dedicated - don’t ever think you’re outworking your competitors. If you think you are, you’re probably not. If you’re paranoid you’re not working hard enough, now you’re on the right track.”
the bronze medal - they were in "awe".
“The fact that Dan took time out of his day to talk to them and share his medal meant the world to each one of them. Who knows? We may have a future Olympian in our school in the 4th grade,” said Kelly.
A Sherrard native, Steele was the 1992 NCAA Champion in the 400-meter hurdles at Eastern Illinois. Post-college, he won a silver medal in the decathlon at the 1999 Pan-American Games and represented the United States at the 1999 IAAF World Track & Field Championships in Spain.
He earned his B.A. degree in sociology from Eastern Illinois in 1992. Steele was a two-time All-American and two-time Drake Relays champion for the Panthers and was inducted into EIU’s Hall of Fame in 2001.
Steele spent his post Olympic life coaching college track and field, and in July 2017 had a massive stroke that has prevented him from returning. His book titled, “American Steele: The Impossible Olympic Journey”, released on Dec. 3, 2021, chronicles his sports journey,
He is a U.S. Army veteran. He and his wife (Dusky) have three children: Xander, Blake and Indira.
