STECKEL

WHEELING — Edwin M. “Ned” Steckel’s broadcasting career stretched from Wheeling to Pittsburgh to Syracuse, New York, to ABC Sports. His Emmy Award-winning work has earned him induction into the Wheeling Hall of Fame.

Steckel is one of 11 inductees to be honored at a Saturday, June 10, ceremony at WesBanco Arena. Steckel is being inducted in the category of sports and athletics.

The event is open to the public and will begin at 6 p.m. A catered dinner is included. Tickets are $40 and can be purchased at WesbancoArena.com, or by calling the box office at 304-233-7000 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Steckel was a national Emmy-Award winning network television producer. He was born November 23, 1930, in Gastonia, N.C. and later moved to Wheeling in June of 1936 from Peekskill, West Chester County, N.Y., when his father, Edwin M. Steckel, joined the Oglebay Institute as the organization’s first full-time staff member and who later became its executive director. His mother, Nina Gooding Steckel, is remembered as a longtime Ohio Valley teacher at various public schools and institutions.

Steckel attended Linsly Military Institute from 1941-48. As a student at Linsly, Ned held the Ohio Valley Conference swim records in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle events. Steckel graduated from Linsly Military Institute in 1948 and continued his education at the University of Michigan, at Bethany College, and graduated from Syracuse University in 1953 with a bachelor of arts degree in journalism.

He received a master of science degree in communications in 1954 from the same institution. While at Syracuse University he was a varsity letterman on the undefeated 1952 swimming team, Eastern Conference Champions.

He served as a rated journalist in the U.S. Naval Reserve for seven years, including two years of active duty from 1955-56. He was assigned to the Battleship New Jersey (BB-52) and later to the headquarters of the Supreme Allied Command Atlantic (NATO) in the public information office.

Steckel’s broadcasting career included employment with WKWK and WTRF-TV in Wheeling, WOLF in Syracuse, NY, WTAE-TV and WIIC in Pittsburgh, and ABC Sports in New York. At ABC Sports (1965-84), Steckel served as assistant to Executive Producer Roone Arledge and as producer/director.

Assigned principally to ABC’s Wide World of Sports, he also participated in producing television coverage of the Winter and Summer Olympic Games. He served there for 19 years as the producer/director, during which time he won eight national Emmy Awards for his production of “ABC’s Wide World of Sports,” NCAA football and various Olympic Games coverage.

After his broadcasting career, Steckel joined the faculty of Bethany College as an associate professor of communications and resident fellow. He also served on the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh on the “Semester at Sea” program.

In retirement, Steckel actively pursued his sailing hobby on Florida’s Gulf Coast, Chesapeake Bay, and at his summer home at Chatauque Institution, Lake Chautauqua, New York.

His local memberships in Wheeling throughout the years included the Aviator Society of the Linsly School, the Short Circuit Club, Symposiarchs, Wheeling Historical Society, Fort Henry Club, Oglebay Institute, and the First Presbyterian Church.

Steckel has two sons, Edwin M. Steckel III and Stephen C. Steckel, and one grandson, Zachary Falk Steckel.