About Steve
Steve Kopman
Steve’s earliest memory was calling at the NY World’s Fair at seven years old. With his father, Lee Kopman, so passionate about the activity there was no doubt he was destined to be a square dance caller.
By the age of thirteen Steve started his first club in his parent’s basement. He’d teach two squares of friends 8-10 calls a week. Thank goodness he was the son of the most prolific choreographer in the business. Steve believes his dad kept writing new calls to entertain the kids.
Steve attended a local college (Adelphi University) so he could pursue his love of square dance calling. He was calling four nights a week while attending the university and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.S. in Education in four years.
During his last year in college Steve met the woman of his dreams, Debbie, who would later become his wife in 1978. She was a deaf education teacher in NY and had recently graduated from the University of TN.
Steve thought it might help his calling career if he moved away from his dad to make a name for himself and they settled in Knoxville, TN. He worked full time for a swimming pool company while calling twenty-six weekends a year around the world. He still maintained a great relationship with his dad and it was nothing for them to call together one weekend in England, the next in Las Vegas and the following weekend in Bartlesville, OK. Lee and Steve spoke every day on the phone; not about sports or politics but about square dance choreography. Lee would bounce ideas of new calls off Steve and they’d discuss fractionalizing the call or cleaning up the definition.
Steve still travels the world calling square dances while maintaining a full-time day job as Treasury officer for Citizens Bank.
Steve and Debbie recently became grandparents for the second time. They have a beautiful girl, Peyton Blake Hammer, and boy, Robert Cole Hammer. The kids and their mom and dad currently reside in Knoxville, TN.