94-year-old Ken Sauer helped bring Special Olympics Games to Medicine Hat
Dr. Ken Sauer, a former Medicine Hat city councillor and school superintendent, has spent 80 years volunteering in the community he helped put on the national map.
Dr. Ken Sauer, 94, is being celebrated in Medicine Hat this week as the Special Olympics Canada Summer Games he helped bring to the city finally take place. Sauer led a successful 2017 bid for the Games, originally set for 2022 before being cancelled due to COVID-19.
Now serving in an advisory role with the current Games committee, Sauer has still stayed hands-on, including presenting medals at a bowling event. He said the opening ceremonies exceeded expectations and that he feels satisfied seeing the event through to its close.
Sauer moved to Medicine Hat in 1974 and has volunteered continuously since age 14, including eight three-year terms as a city councillor and a career as a school superintendent. He was inducted into the Alberta Order of Excellence in 2009 for his community work, and has volunteered for roughly a dozen major events including Alberta Summer and Winter Games.
Sauer credited Medicine Hat's volunteer culture, particularly local service clubs like Kiwanis, for the Games' success, noting most 2022 volunteers returned this year. He said hosting the Games has helped raise the city's profile nationally, calling Medicine Hat 'a big corner' despite its reputation as a forgotten part of the country.
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