Former OC English professor and author featured on national TV for the “Field of Dreams” ML game.

Willie Steele appeared on the news during Major League Baseball’s first game at the “Field of Dreams” in Iowa.

Image courtesy of the desmoinesregister.com

Oklahoma Christian University Language and Literature alumni fondly recall current and past professors. One of those professors was hard to miss in August as he was sought after by numerous news outlets for a first-time event by Major League Baseball. 

Former Cascade and OC English professor Willie Steele was interviewed in relation to Major League Baseball's first-ever "Field of Dreams" game in Iowa, which was broadcasted live on national TV on FOX. The game featured the New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox playing next to the field used in the movie and based on the novel by W.P. Kinsella. Steele wrote the only authorized biography of Kinsella, a book he started at Cascade and continued writing while at OC. 

“It’s amazing how the film has mapped out the trajectory of my life,” Steele said, in a story on the website of where he now teaches, Lipscomb University. “I am still trying to figure out how that 16-year-old kid from Ohio who went to see a movie 32 years ago can be a part of something like this,” said Steele. 

Steele’s book is titled “Going the Distance: The Life and Works of W.P. Kinsella,” and during the process of writing his book, Steele learned about and built a relationship with Kinsella, making him “today’s most knowledgeable expert” on the author. 

Although Kinsella is now deceased, Steele does not forget all that he owes to Kinsella.

“It’s surreal that I’ve gotten to do all of this because I went to watch a movie,” Steele said. “It’s been a fun ride.”