A nonchalant hint of Old Spice precedes Zachary Scheel.
The aroma won him a trip to the South Pacific.
Lt. Scheel, a Navy Civil Engineer Corps officer, is the assistant public works officer at Naval Station Everett.
And he’s a world traveler.
In June, he flew to South Africa for the World Cup and kept friends apprised of his adventures on Facebook.
“If you’re watching the Mexico versus South Africa opening game of the World Cup tomorrow, keep your eyes peeled for us,” he posted. “We’re sitting in row A of the upper deck. We’ll be rocking out a giant American flag hanging in front of our seats.”
In Africa, he went scuba diving with sharks on the Aliwal Shoal, played pick-up games of soccer with children in a rural Africa village and backpacked in the Drankensburg Mountains.
Then he rushed to Fiji because he won a competition to become an intern to promote Old Spice’s new Fresh Collection line of deodorants.
In Fiji, Scheel competed to see if he could drive more traffic to an Old Spice website than another intern who was sent to the Matterhorn in Switzerland.
He won the challenge.
“I’m extremely competitive, self-driven, motivated, energetic and assertive,” Scheel said. “My personality can best be described as gregarious and extroverted.”
When he entered the competition, Old Spice asked what a dream job smelled like. Scheel, 26, submitted his essay about the scent of freedom.
“Old Spice belongs to a small and elite collection of companies that can rightfully claim the title of ‘Iconic American brand.’ I would go one step further because Old Spice is more than just another brand-name like Levis or Budweiser. Old Spice is an attitude and a mentality. It’s the embodiment of the quintessential Old Spice trademark: the majestic clipper, fiercely plowing through cresting whitecaps with its sails full of the breath of the sea, puffed out like the chest of a stately game cock … Old Spice is a nonchalant confidence in all things masculine.”
Those words were winners.
Besides loving freedom, Scheel adores scuba diving, playing soccer, kayaking, alpine skiing and snowboarding, wakeboarding, skydiving, mountain climbing and competing in triathlons.
Born and raised along the banks of the Little Miami River outside Cincinnati, Ohio, Scheel said his childhood was spent re-enacting the jovial, and often times misguided, adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn.
“Unlike other childhood habits, this passion for exploration was not something that I would soon grow out of,” he said. “My goal in life is simply to see and do as much as possible. Life is too short to not fervently pursue your passions, and my passion is adventure. Travel, exploration, extreme sports, foreign cultures — you name it.”
He received a degree in mechanical engineering, and a commission in the U.S. Navy, from Duke University in Durham, N.C.
The Pacific Northwest, his home since college, suits his outdoor lifestyle.
“My newest passion, since moving to the Pacific Northwest, is mountaineering. I have made summits of 12 different Cascade peaks so far, and I have my sights set on Kilamanjaro, Denali and Elbrus in the near future.”
I asked Scheel’s friend, Andrew Bye from Boston, if Scheel made up stories about his array of adventures.
“You know how everyone always tells crazy stories about some friend?” Bye said. “Zach is that friend, time and time again. He basically lives vicariously through himself. I will testify that he is not lying about his adventures. After going on numerous road trips and adventures with him, I’m surprised he has survived this long. He’s always getting into precarious situations.”
Bye said Scheel is like a child who’s been given candy and coffee.
“He never slows down. Extreme sports and outdoors are huge for him.”
Scheel’s resume includes dog-sledding in British Columbia’s Garibaldi Provincial Park, hang gliding, flying search-and-rescue missions with the HS-4 Black Knights off the deck of the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, surfing in Australia, whitewater rafting the on the Upper Gauley River in West Virginia and playing on soccer teams against semi-pro clubs in England.
In 2008 and 2009, Scheel was one of four non-native guest players on a Romanian team that brought home two bronze medals in the All-Nations Cup international soccer tournament.
At the end of August, he leaves for a Navy assignment in the African nation of Djibouti, with the promise of further outdoor experiences.
He’ll pack along his favorite products. Scheel said he has been proudly wearing the same scent line since the fourth grade, when he discovered it was beneficial to smell good for the young ladies.
He said Old Spice men are born with an unquenchable thirst for adventure.
Scheel lives his words, with a hint of Old Spice Fiji.
Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451, oharran@heraldnet.com.
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