Steve began his career in shoe repair in 1963 as a young boy at the age of six, working in his Grandfather's shoe repair shop. In 1972, as a young man, Steve was trained and worked for his father rebuilding shoe machinery and has been dedicated to the Shoe Machinery Industry since that time. Steve has been a guest speaker for Machinery Maintenance seminars at many of the Shoe Service Conventions. He has also written machinery maintenance articles for Shoe Service Magazine for many years. Steve has taught machinery maintenance at Oklahoma State University Okmulgee and has worked as a consultant to the advisory board helping to cultivate and strengthen our industry.

Jerry Mueller, Tony's brother, launched his career with Landis Shoe Machine in 1954, and in 1959 he was co-founder and Vice President of Sutton Shoe Machine. Jerry joined Gateway Shoe Machine in 1990, bringing with him this tremendous knowledge and experience. Jerry designed and engineered the Sutton S-2000, S-1250, S-1000, S-750, S-500, SS- 1 Shiner, and motorized patch machine stand. He also designed the entire line of Sutton belt sanders and many other Sutton products.