Steve Mesler

Mesler was born in Buffalo, New York, and is Jewish on his mother's side. He attended City Honors School in Buffalo, graduating in 1996.

Mesler attended the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he competed as a decathlete for the Florida Gators track and field team from 1997 to 2000. He graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor's degree, with honors, in exercise and sports science in 2000.

Mesler's team finished seventh in the four-man event at Turin in 2006. He won two medals in the four-man event at the FIBT World Championships with a gold in 2009, a first in 50 years for the United States, and a bronze in 2004.

In 2009, Mesler and his sister, Dr. Leigh Mesler Parise, founded Classroom Champions and have grown it into an international organization affecting change in classrooms and donating needed technology utilizing Olympians and Paralympians as around the year mentors to thousands of students in the U.S., Canada, and Costa Rica.

In March 2011, he was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and in October 2011 he was inducted into the Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame.

For his work on Classroom Champions, Mesler was named one of Sports Illustrated's renowned "Athletes Who Care" and was a 2011 Nominee for the International Champion for Peace Award by Peace and Sport. A TED-Ed Educator and featured expert on Big Think, Steve has spoken around the world on the values of educating students through technology and mentorship. In 2013, Classroom Champions was the only non-European organization to receive a Fair Play Diploma from the International Fair Play Committee established by UNESCO. Recently, local agencies, the United States Olympic Committee, and the White House have all recognized Classroom Champions teachers for their work.

Mesler has keynoted executive conferences and national conventions from Vancouver to Orlando. He has spoken on communicating the Olympic ideals in Olympia, Greece, talked about engagement in Tel Aviv, Israel, and sat as an expert on panels in Sochi, Russia and Dubai, UAE to discuss the future of organizations in creating peace through sport education in global communities. In March 2014 Mesler spoke at the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai with a talk titled "Systematic change means getting back to local." Other speakers at the conference included Tony Blair and Bill Clinton, among others.

In November 2014, Mesler received the Athletes in Excellence Award from The Foundation for Global Sports Development, in recognition of his community service efforts and work with youth.