It takes some craftiness to put one over on Kevin Sauer.
After all, Sauer started coaching University of Virginia rowers during the Reagan administration back when a dozen eggs cost 65 cents. In more than three decades of coaching, thousands of athletes, including future Olympians, have powered boats across water for him. His résumé is stocked with hundreds of wins and dozens of championships. And his current rowers are once again the Atlantic Coast Conference champions, heading into this weekend’s NCAA women’s rowing championships.
So you might think at this point in his 35-year career, he’s seen it all. But then came a seemingly innocuous luncheon that ended with an oversized check with a lot of numbers on it. And a completely stunned coach.
The UVA women’s rowing team recently presented Sauer with a $1 million endowment to benefit the program. The endowment was kickstarted with a $250,000 donation from a former member of the men’s rowing club, then bolstered with donations from more than 360 alumni, parents and well-wishers.