(1935-2010)
Inducted into Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, 1984
Born in West Hartford in 1935, Steiglitz graduated from Hall High School. His track career started at the University of Connecticut where he set school records in every distance event, from the half-mile run to cross-country. He won the Yankee Conference mile and two-mile races where he set records; he was New England champion in these same events, and was the record holder in the two-mile event.
In 1957, he was the Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association of America’s two-mile champion. That same year, he ran in the Maccabiah games in Israel and won a gold medal in the 5000 meter run and a silver medal in the 800 meter run. In the 1961 Maccabiah games, he won gold medals and set records in the 1500 meters and 5000-meter races.
As an officer in the U.S. Navy from 1958-1961, he continued to win gold and silver medals around the country. He was selected to represent the United States in a meet against Russia and in the Pan American Games. In 1960, he became the U.S. record-holder in the 10,000-meter event and was voted the best track athlete at the Mt. San Antonio Relays in Texas.
He was slated to try out for the 1960 Olympics but a leg injury forced him out of the competition. After graduating from medical school in London in 1968, he returned to the U.S. and settled in Concord, New Hampshire. He specialized in pediatric ophthalmology and served as a consultant to state agencies providing services to the visually handicapped.