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Bill Steele (born October 17, 1948) given name Charles William Steele, Jr., and published name C. William Steele, is a caver, adventurer and explorer known for exploring long and deep caves. He is also an American national-level Boy Scouts of America professional, author and public speaker. He has participated in over 30 international expeditions and is a Fellow Emeritus member of The Explorers Club.

Biography
Steele was born in Dayton, Ohio and moved to Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Los Angeles again as a boy, before moving back to Dayton where he attended high school. As a four year old boy on vacation with his family he became intrigued by caves when his family toured some. He maintained a reading interest in them until he was 13 years of age when as a Boy Scout he discovered a previously unexplored passage in a Kentucky cave. At age 14 he organized an Explorer post specializing in Speleology, joined the National Speleological Society at age 16, and became an Eagle Scout at age 17. He attended Indiana University where he studied non-profit management, economics and anthropology, and was active with the university caving club.

In the late 60s Steele was involved in the exploration and mapping of Ellison’s Cave, Georgia, which netted him a nationally-known name in the caving community by age 20. At age 21 he began to organize cave exploration expeditions to Mexico and in 1971 explored and mapped the longest cave in Mexico (at the time), Grutas de Juxtlahuaca, which contains the oldest known cave paintings in the Western Hemisphere. Based up on the exploratory work that Steele and his friends did at Juxtlahuaca, it subsequently became a national park.

Through the 70s Steele graduated from Indiana University, continued exploring caves, including significant contributions to the exploration and mapping of the deepest cave in Indiana, the longest cave in the world, Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, the deepest cave in Georgia, and was the lead explorer of the deepest and most extensive caves of the Rocky Mountains, the Silvertip Cave System, Bob Marshall Wilderness Area, Montana. He also returned to Mexico every year to explore caves.

In 1976 Steele led an expedition to explore a cave said to be the “world’s most dangerous and difficult cave”, Sumidero Yochib, in Chiapas, Mexico. At age 27 that year he was named a fellow of the National Speleological Society.

In 1977 Steele again led an expedition to Sumidero Yochib, and that year was awarded the prestigious Lew Bicking Award, awarded annually to the top American cave explorer. That year he also co-led three expeditions to Sotano de San Agustin, Oaxaca, Mexico, the deepest cave in the Western Hemisphere, and spent eight weeks on Silvertip Mountain, Montana.

Steele was named a Fellow member of The Explorers Club in 1979 at age 30.

In 1980 Steele began his career with the Boy Scouts of America. He spent 21 years in local councils, serving in various positions, including Scout executive of an Oklahoma council. In 2001 he was promoted to the national headquarters in Irving, Texas. In 2013 he is the national director for Alumni Relations and the National Eagle Scout Association.

Even with a demanding career with the Boy Scouts of America, Steele has retained his passion for exploring, mapping, and understanding caves. He has been on two expeditions to China, and has participated in the exploration of the three longest caves in Texas, and many other cave exploration projects throughout the USA and Mexico.

He’s written two books about his cave exploration: “Yochib:The River Cave” and “Huautla: Thirty Years in One of the World’s Deepest Caves”, both published by Cave Books (cavebooks.com). He is well published in caving newsletters and journals. With James H. Smith he co-authored a chapter for “Encyclopedia of Caves”.

Steele is a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award (2011), awarded to only one out of every thousand Eagle Scouts. His was for his accomplishments as a cave explorer.

In 2013 he was named a Fellow Emeritus member of The Explorers Club.

Career with the Boy Scouts of America
His career with the Boy Scouts of America has been a successful one for over 30 years. He has contributed to many of their publications, including writing a chapter for the Fieldbook published in 1982, and was a contributor to the 2004 edition of the Fieldbook. With the BSA in San Antonio, Texas he held various positions for 16 years from associate district executive to director of support service, as well as camp director. In Bartlesville, Oklahoma he served as Scout executive, or CEO, for northeastern Oklahoma.

As a national staff member his notable achievements are the creation of the Cub Scout Outdoor Activity Award, the creation of the first BSA online learning and podcasts, the colorization of merit badge booklets, the first BSA website, and with the National Eagle Scout Association gave leadership to the first nationwide search for Eagle Scouts, the publication of two books of Eagle Scout stories, and nearly 300% growth in the number and value of Eagle Scout scholarships, and other programs of note. He managed the creation of the BSA’s alumni program, the Scouting Alumni Association. Three times he gave staff leadership to the annual BSA Report to the Nation delegation visit to Washington, D.C., which included visits with the president of the United States in the White House.

Highlights of cave exploration:
Longest stay in a cave: 13 days Most trips into the same cave: 155 Participated in the exploration and mapping of:
 * Longest cave in the world (Mammoth Cave, Kentucky)
 * Deepest cave in Texas (Sorcerer's Cave)
 * Two deepest caves in the Western Hemisphere (Sistema Huautla, Sistema Cheve)
 * Three longest caves in Texas (Honey Creek Cave, Powell’s Cave, Perry Water Cave)
 * Longest cave in Tennessee (Blue Springs Cave)
 * Longest cave in Arkansas (Fitton Cave)
 * Deepest cave in Montana (at the time – Silvertip Cave System)
 * Deepest cave in Indiana (at the time – Parker’s Pit)
 * Longest and deepest cave in New Mexico (Lechuguilla Cave)
 * Longest and deepest cave in Georgia (Ellison’s Cave)
 * Longest cave in West Virginia (Hellshole)
 * Second and fourth longest caves in China (San Wang Dong, Er Wang Dong)
 * Hundreds of others of lesser note

Personal Life
Bill Steele is the son of Charles William Steele, Sr. and Helen Marie Jolly. He is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution with ancestors on both his paternal and maternal sides who fought in the American Revolutionary War. He has three siblings: Richard, of Juneau, Alaska; James, of Groveland, Massachusetts; and Elizabeth (Lisa), of Frankfort, Kentucky.

He currently lives in Irving, Texas. He has two adult children who live in Austin, Texas. Brian is married to Liz and they have two daughters, Emily and Lauren. He is the manager with Recreational Equipment Inc. His daughter, Audrey, is married to Mark Worrell, and they have one daughter, Sophia, and two sons, Brayden and Charlie. She is an Exploring executive with the Capitol Area Council, Boy Scouts of America.