Steven Steel is a mature man standing at around 190 cm. He is bald, but covers the top of his head with a smooth cap with serrated edges. His attire usually consists of a high collared coat decorated with several tassels on the collar and assorted pants. Steven also wears small rectangular glasses.

Steven Steel is shown to be an anxious character despite bearing a bold facade as the organizer and host of the Steel Ball Run race. During most of his life, Steven Steel has cultivated a bombastic and eccentric persona, becoming a performer, sportsman and other jobs in the center of the stage, but would find his calling as a promoter for various events. Despite the ups and downs of his career, Steven has managed to always rebound to success. Steven also projects the image of a stern and confident promoter who tackles any problem with calm and authority. When a clerk reports numerous problems during the preparations, Steven calmly raises the budget and orders to make it clear troublemakers will be thrown out.

Privately, Steven is full of doubts and only dreams of a modest amount of fame, being content that a paper would print his name even at the bottom of the page as long his contribution was acknowledged. All these thoughts he only shares with Lucy.

Steven Steel is a romantic man holding several ideals. He notably promotes the Steel Ball Run as a testament to mankind's pioneer spirit, intending to make it so for the first time, a lone man crosses the United States with his horse and accepting all other vehicles used in the race as a challenge to this spirit. He also considers that "true failure" is to abandon this pioneer spirit and avoid hardships.

Steven Steel is also content with the bit of fame his events grant him but doesn't seem to be after monetary gains, as he offered all of the profit from the race to various causes and also refused to throw a fight during his career as a boxer, even if he was shot in the knee by gangsters. Steven also made the effort to save Lucy from the mafia as repayment for her support.