Stephen Shellans was a coxswain who started competing in crew at Dartmouth University, graduating in 1982. IHe won two medals at the Pan American Games, a silver in the coxed pair in 1983 and a gold in the eight in 1987. He also coxed a pair at the World Championships in 1985, 1986, and 1991, in addition to his appearance in that event at the 1992 Olympics. Shellans later attended Dartmouth Medical School, finishing there in 1988. He became an emergency physician, eventually working as emergency department director at Needles-Desert Communities Hospital and later at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital.