Paul Steele
Name: Paul Steele
Hometown: Tacoma, Washington, USA
Birthplace: Tacoma, Washington, USA
Pro Boxer: Record
According to the June 24, 1917 Tacoma Tribune, Paul Steele's professional boxing debut was at age 16 in eastern Washington state. After that, he went to live and box in San Francisco.
Steele was known to be not only fast and clever, but possessed a cheerful good-nature and a smiling attitude when boxing. March 16, 1914 Tacoma Times [1]
The March 17, 1915 Tacoma Daily News reported that Steele and fellow boxer Earl Conners had donated skin to the badly-burned three-and-a-half-year-old Willie Haukas.
See the June 24, 1917 Tacoma Tribune for an article on Steele. He had been born in Tacoma. He had been President of the local Newsboys Union.
In 1917 he joined the United States Army's Ambulance Corps.[2] By November, Steele was assisting Mike Gibbons to train fighters at Fort Dodge, Iowa. [3]. Steele became the lightweight champion of Fort Dodge. [4]
The Feb. 13, 1920 Tacoma News Tribune reported that he was then serving in the United States Army service at Oteen, North Carolina, hospital No. 19. Much later, he opened his own gym in Tacoma.
The July 21, 1949 Tacoma News Tribune published a photo and retrospective of him. He was the father of Patrick Steele--who would eventually become the Pierce County prosecutor, a Tacoma City councilman, and Washington state representative for the 26th District [5]. Paul, his wife, and seven-year-old son Michael, were visiting Tacoma from Hot Springs, Arkansas. It was his first visit to Tacoma since he had left as a member of an ambulance outfit during World War I. That Tacoma paper reported that he had engaged in some 200 fights. Later he taught and managed several boxers, including Joe Benjamin. He then promoted for a couple of years for the Glide Rink Athletic Club during an interim when the Eagles' Club, with George Shanklin as matchmaker, was dark. Steele was also the commander of the Hot Springs American Legion post and made matches for its boxing club. For several years, he trained the Hot Springs High School football team.
Other photos of Steele can be found in the March 21, 1914 and April 14, 1917, editions of the Tacoma Daily News; and various editions of the Tacoma Times [6][7].