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Sauers ‘made a great impact’ with people in the community

By Alyssa Fasolo

Stephen Sauers began working with recreation in 1978 and retired this past July. He will be honored with the Respected Citizen Award at the CBRC Community Classic Dinner and Auction on Saturday. Mirror photo by Gary M. Baranec

The Central Blair Recreation and Park Commission has been an integral part of the Altoona and Blair County communities for many years and takes pride in providing numerous opportunities, especially involving youth sports.

This year, a retiree of the CBRC will be honored with the Respected Citizen Award at the CBRC Community Classic Dinner and Auction on Saturday.

Stephen Sauers began working with recreation in 1978 and retired from working full time this past July.

Sauers served as the superintendent of recreation, managing all the programming, the spray park operation, the pool operation and various youth sports leagues.

“He had a programming staff that would assist him with all those responsibilities, but if it was happening from a community standpoint with programming and recreation, it was under Steve’s guidance,” CBRC Executive Director Mike Hofer said.

“Steve was involved in pretty much every aspect of the commission from recreation to maintenance to policy making. In his 40 years at the commission, he made a great impact with all the people he served in the community,” Administrative Assistant Judith Irvin said.

The Respected Citizen Award is given to a citizen who is selfless and driven to help others, qualities that Sauers’ co-workers say define him.

“Everything that the award is about — selflessness, giving to others, putting other people in front of yourself — that’s Steve, and it really has been since day one,” Hofer said. “I don’t think that has ever changed with him. He really cares about people and is really empathetic and passionate about helping people, and that’s really what the award is about.

“He dedicated his life for 40 years to the commission and the people of the community,” Irvin said. “He went over and above with everything he managed. He was always great to work with. He always had your feelings first before anything at all.”

Sauers is a graduate of Altoona Area High School and earned his associate degree in liberal arts from Penn State in 1972 and his bachelor of science degree in health and physical education in 1975.

When Sauers began working with the CBRC, it was still the Altoona Recreation Commission. He served in a number of positions before obtaining the role of superintendent of recreation, including center director, sports director, maintenance supervisor and director of the recreation commission.

It was in 1994 that the commission united with the township, city and school district and Sauers moved into the superintendent role that he would hold until his retirement.

“We touched a lot of lives in those almost 40 years,” Sauers said. “I’ve seen the good, the bad, the ugly and everything in between.”

He emphasized the importance of recreation and the work that the commission does.

“Recreation is vital for the area,” he said. “With the way things are now, we tried to always make sure we had quality programs at a reasonable cost for toddlers through seniors. It kept the youth off the streets and gave them something to do for every age group.”

Sauers’ impact extends beyond his work with the CBRC. He has touched many lives as a baseball coach and as volunteer in his church.

“He has devoted his entire life to this community, and I think it’s time he was recognized for that,” Hofer said. “It’s not just his time at the commission. He was involved in coaching baseball, and he’s also heavily involved at his church; he’s done quite a lot of good in this community and has touched a lot of lives in many different ways.”

Baseball was another major part of Sauers’ life, whether it was as a player or as a coach in one of the city’s many leagues.

“I played since I was 8 years old, then I got into coaching, and I had the opportunity to coach in every level throughout the city, and that was something that I’m proud of,” he said.

Coaching was one of Sauers’ passions, and through baseball he was able to form relationships with other coaches and influence the lives of kids.

He coached the L.S. Fiore entry of the Altoona AAABA League with Ron Fiochetta for many years.

“We were together, we were committed, we practiced hard, but we tried to make it enjoyable, and over the course of the years I’ve had some great people to coach with,” Sauers said. “I had the opportunity to coach and watch my buddies’ children from Little League up through high school, and that’s extremely enjoyable when you can have a kid from 8 or 9 years old and go right up the line with them. That in itself is really something that I take a lot of pride in.”

Sauers’ service as a baseball coach was in line with much of what he did at the Rec Commission when it came to serving the community. However, he said he learned a number of other skills, such as networking, at the CBRC.

“We started working with a lot of other organizations,” he said. “That was something that I learned how to do. It wasn’t in my background, but that part of it became essential. Fundraising, marketing, securing the sponsors, advertising, working with musical groups when we did the free concerts at Valley View Park, that was all something that was trial and error, and I had to find my way.

“It was a matter of making contacts and following leads, and when it was all said and done, it was something that I enjoyed.”

Programming diversity is part of the Rec Commission.

“We’ve got a wide range of athletic programs and leisure time programs,” he said. “People would call and say, ‘How about trying this or trying that?’ If it was feasible, we would give it a go. It covers a wide area, so hopefully there’s something there that would be of interest to anyone in the community.”

Sauers tried to be versatile. Over the years, he was challenged with managing the Horseshoe Curve gift shop, running the concessions for the Rail Kings and even hosting the PIAA finals for both baseball and softball at Vets Field.

“The number of different hats that I wore throughout the time, the different things I was responsible for, that’s something I feel strongly about, that I was able to do that successfully,” Sauers said. “Whatever was thrown at us, whatever we had to do, we did what we needed to do to get the job done.”

As a co-worker, Sauers is recognized by his colleagues for his passion and dedication.

“I remember a time we got a phone call at 10 o’clock at night. There were heavy rains, and the spray park that had just been built had flooded,” Hofer said. “He and I and our spray park director were out for hours in the night cleaning that spray park. It’s just little things like that that people never really knew that he did.”

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