Steve Scheffler, born in Grand Rapids in 1967, excelled in football and basketball at Forest Hills Northern High, but it was basketball where he made his name at Purdue University and for seven years in the NBA. The 6-foot-9, 250-pound Scheffler earned All-State honors in both football and basketball, and was recruited by colleges in both sports, including the University of Michigan and legendary football coach Bo Schembechler.
He selected Purdue, where his older brother Tom had played for Coach Gene Keady. In four seasons at Purdue (1986-1990) Scheffler set the NCAA career field-goal percentage record of .685, eclipsing the previous mark set by Jerry Lucas of Ohio State in 1962. He also shot just over 80 percent from the free-throw line for his career. As a junior his team selected him the Most Valuable Players, and as a senior in 1990 he averaged 16.8 point and 6.1 rebounds and was named the Big Ten Player of the Year and earned third-team All-American honors.
During college, Scheffler’s conquering of dyslexia was revealed as newspaper stories reported on his successes. He had revealed it to the Grand Rapids Press during his senior year of high school while playing basketball for Coach Perry Paganelli.
Scheffler’s strength was a trademark. He squat-lifted 458 pounds at Purdue and regularly bench-pressed over 300 pounds in his training regimen.
The NBA’s Charlotte Hornets selected him in the second round of the 1990 draft with the 39th pick overall. He played for the Hornets, Sacramento Kings, Denver Nuggets and Seattle Supersonics.
He was a fan favorite in Seattle and was part of the 1996 team that fell to the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan in the NBA Finals. He played in four of the six games in the series. The Seattle players and coaching staff lauded him often for being an intense practice player and reserve who made the team better.
Over his seven seasons in the NBA he played in 178 games with eight starts, averaged 1.9 points and 5.3 minutes per appearance. He shot 56 percent. He also played briefly with three teams in the CBA. His older brother Tom also played in the NBA with Portland. Tom was born in St. Joseph before the family moved to Grand Rapids.
Scheffler as of 2020 lived in Grand Rapids and was president of KS Specialties, a marketing company.