About Kevin’s work with – Kansas State University Football
For fourteen seasons, Kevin Saunders worked with the Kansas State University football team as a motivational coach. During that time he was able to share his passion for the game and determination to keep pushing forward with thousands of young men, culminating in "the greatest turnaround in college football history." Kansas State football had the most loses of any team in college footballs Division 1 schools in the turnaround they used the leadership principals of Head Coach Bill Snyder to become one of the top 6 winning programs in America.

Kevin regards his time with the team as a happy accident. Originally visiting campus to work with engineering students to develop a faster, more efficient racing wheelchair, he was introduced to legendary coach Bill Snyder by mutual friends. Coach Snyder immediately saw in Kevin the same thing audiences have for the past 20 years -- an intense spirit of perseverance that could ignite a flame in his team. A couple of weeks later, before a crucial game, the wily coach devised a plot to use Kevin's story to fire up his players.

"Coach met me before the game and led me through a series of hallways," Kevin says. "I thought we were going to his office, or maybe down to the field, but when he opened the door there were a hundred Kansas State University football players, all in uniform, staring right at me. Coach Snyder asked me to share my story with them, so I delivered a short fired up one on the spot. The rest is history!"

The Wildcats played with a renewed passion that day, leading Coach Snyder to offer Kevin a regular spot on his staff. Over the next several years, the two men worked together molding young men into winning teams. While Kevin is shy about claiming any credit for their success, others seem to feel differently. In fact, the grateful players, many of whom have gone on to successful careers in and out of football, even dedicated an annual award in his honor. To this day, the Kevin Saunders Never Give up Award goes to the one player whose perseverance, courage and determination in Never Giving Up in the pursuit of team goals,” stands out each year.

"Obviously, it's a huge honor" Kevin says. "But in the end, it's up to each and every one of those young men to make their own success in life. Hard things are put in our way, not to stop us, but to call out our courage and strength to be a success. Pain builds courage and that you can't be strong, brave or a winner if only good things happen to you, we all have to go through the tough times and obstacles to find out what we are really capable of. The choice is always ours, and no one can make it for us. I've just tried to share the one secret of my success with them -- and that is you can never, ever give up, because if you keep pushing strong forward towards your goals and never lose your faith then the impossible can become possible” I think Coach Snyder and all those associated with Kansas State University football proved that when they created what is known as the Miracle in Manhattan, "the greatest turnaround in college football history." Manhattan, Kansas known as The Little Apple!

Anyone interested in learning about leadership can learn important lessons from what Kevin learned from working with Coach Snyder. Whether you are building a sports team, business these serve as a model for excellence for all groups.

Kansas State football the beginning

In the early nineties, as I was competing in the Paralympics games and competitions around the world as a wheelchair athlete and starting to garner some recognition, I noticed that the wheelchairs I was using weren’t always up for what I wanted to do. To take the next steps in competition, I was going to need something that was stronger, lighter and more agile. So, I turned to the only place I could think of – the brilliant engineers at my alma mater, Kansas State University.

When President Jon Wefald and V.P. Robert Krause of Kansas State University heard what I had in mind, they immediately agreed to help out. Over the following months, I spent a lot of time on campus talking to engineering students, athletes and professors. More than a few times, people asked me if I’d had a chance to meet Kansas State football Coach Bill Snyder. They said that we had a lot in common and a similar outlook on life.

Well, one day they called Coach Snyder to come and meet me. I told him what a fan I was of his work and the Kansas State football program, and he invited me to come and sit on the sidelines for an upcoming game. I couldn’t imagine a better treat. I’d always loved football, playing both offense and defense in high school and offense in college and still followed the college game closely.
I should have seen what was coming next, but Coach Snyder is a shrewd man. About an hour before kickoff, he met me at the Vanier football complex in front of the stadium, and said he wanted me to follow him. I thought we were going to his office or to the field, but instead we made our way around a couple of corners, down a short hallway, and then to an unmarked door in a long hallway. When he opened it, there were over a hundred young players facing us on the other side. Without any hesitation, Coach Snyder brought their attention to us and announced: “You all know who this is because you have already heard me speak about Kevin. Then he said that I would be giving ‘a few words on winning.’ Dozens of eyes turned to me expectedly.
Unprepared for this surprise, I just gave the players my story in a nutshell. When I’d finished, I looked around the room, meeting their eyes with my own. “The thing that you have to remember, that you always have to carry with you…” I told them, “Is that you can never, never, give up believing you can win and finding a way to win. You cannot accept less than 200% from yourselves and your teammates.”  

This seemed to strike a chord, and the team got fired-up. They went out that afternoon and grabbed a tough win. Later, Coach Snyder asked if I’d be interested in staying on as motivational coach for the team. I accepted, and worked as the motivational coach with the Kansas State football team from 1991 until 2005, during what’s been referred to as ‘the greatest college football turnaround in history.’ Some of my duties as motivational coach included speaking and working with the team giving inspirational goal-setting talks to help them break barriers, transcend limitations, and reach for new levels of excellence, and achievement.

My first tackle in a wheelchair!

One of my greatest memories of overcoming adversity is when we played the University of Oklahoma, on their field in 1994. Laird Vetch, our team captain and a key player for us, was injured in the third quarter. He had broken both his nose and a finger, so we figured he would be out for the game.
While these are painful injuries, I knew that they weren’t dangerous, and we were in the midst of an important game. I believed he could overcome adversity. A win would mean our first ever triumph over a big rival, and give us a shot at the national ranking. I knew the young man was hurting, but if he could overcome this adversity it would give the team added inspiration to win the game.

So, as the trainers were taping Laird’s broken finger to stabilize it, I came up beside him and explained that we needed his leadership and inspiration back on the field when they finished taping his fingers. Before I could finish the thought, I saw a football flying towards us from the corner of my eye. The next thing that I saw was two players, running full tilt, trying to chase down the errant pass. The coaches and trainers around and in front of us jumped out of the way, but as I spun around, my wheelchair came to a dead stop. My wheelchair had hit the team bench, which was bolted down into the turf.
I must have been wearing a bull’s eye, because both players were bearing down at full speed, falling in my direction at the same time. I managed to push one away with my left arm, but the second player hit me like a shotgun blast right in the sternum with his helmet, ‘a perfect shot if I ever saw one!’. My entire skeleton shook as he drove his helmet into my chest. Then there was a whiplash effect as he drove my body back only to be returned by the rebound of my wheelchair from the bench. All I could do to rebound back was wrap my arm around his neck, dragging him to the turf with me.

Following the hit, the players picked me back up and put me in my chair like a rag doll. Laird looked over at me. The pain in my chest was extreme, but I didn’t want to tell him how much it hurt, not after the speech to never give up I’d just been giving him. I knew I could never give up. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to speak, so I just gave him a quick wink. With that, he cracked a smile. “Nice tackle, Saunders,” he quipped, and then returned to the game. 
Despite my bravado, I was glad that it happened near the end of the game. Tests after the game revealed that I had a bruised sternum and a cracked rib. But, I just couldn’t imagine telling the players that they had to Never Give Up and give 200% to win, and then give them something less myself.

I had a lot of great stories from my time working with Kansas State football and most of them revolve around players reaching deep inside of themselves to find the courage, perseverance, and determination to go above and beyond their limitations and find a way to win.

Head Coach Bill Snyder Keys to Success & Leading Others to It!

It was such a gift to be around not only him, but all of the great people that were associated with Kansas State Football during those years. Many players have gone on to the NFL and successful business careers, and you can find most of his assistant coaches running their own top programs these days.
I think that’s all just indicative of the kind of man that he is. Coach Snyder is simply a great person through and through, one of the nicest people you could ever meet. I would admire and respect him just for that, but as a head coach he was much more. It all starts with his tireless work ethic. You hear a lot about people being the first to arrive and the last to leave, and he lived that every day that I knew him.

He is also a great leader who knew how to get the most out of his players. This extended far beyond the field. He wanted his players to be winners in life, not just football. I remember one night, during his last season as head coach, I mentioned to him that it would be great if the players went out and won this last one for him. He replied, “Kevin, I hope they will win for themselves. Not only this Saturday, but after they leave here and get out in the world. I hope they continue to win.” That’s the man he is. He just won by giving.
You can see this desire to see the people in his life succeed reflected in the careers of his former assistants, several of whom have gone on to high profile positions of their own. Two that stand out in my mind are Bob Stoops and Jim Leavitt. The first time I saw the two of them in action was during the halftime break of a big game. Bob was shouting to his players at the top of his lungs, while Jim was furiously diagramming second half plays and formations on a black board directly behind. Together, the two of them looked like they were trying to figure out how to put a man on the moon using tin cans and watch batteries.

What looked like chaos, however, was pure genius. Using the lessons they’d learned from Coach Snyder’s program, along with their own inner drive, both went on to great success. It took Stoops only two years after accepting the top position in Oklahoma to lead them to an undefeated season and a national championship. Coach Leavitt has been just as impressive, taking unranked Southern Florida and turning them into a powerhouse. I’d heard of cooking from scratch before, but building a football program from scratch? I guess hard work really is the secret ingredient. In fact, at the time of this interview, USF is #2 in the nation, sitting just above #4 Oklahoma. Maybe one day we’ll see the two of them meet in a title game!

Coach Snyder is and always will be a humble man of great dignity. He’s a fantastic coach, an inspired leader, and a great man who deeply cares about the welfare of others. I feel honored to have such an example in my life.

The Biggest comeback in K-State football history!

Talk about an unexpected honor – I loved my time as motivational coach with the team and was glad to make an impact, but I never expected them to name an award after me. I thought being the motivational coach was honor enough. When Coach Snyder came up with the Kevin Saunders Never Give Up award, he said it was going to be given to the player who demonstrated the most courage, perseverance and determination to ‘Never Give Up’ in the pursuit of team goals.

I remember the first year it was given was 1993. That season we went on to win the Copper Bowl in Tucson, Arizona and Kitt Rawlings was the first recipient of the award. Under Coach Snyder’s leadership, we went on to eleven straight bowl games.

In regards to the Kevin Saunders Never Give Up award a special story comes to mind from 1999. By this time we had were accustomed to being ranked in the top 25 in the nation by the Associated Press and USA Today. Basically, that meant that we were a top program expected to win. But, as we all know, expectations are not always met, at least not in the beginning. The team traveled to Ames, Iowa, for a game with the Iowa State Cyclones. We had no idea of the shocking first half ambush that awaited us.

From the opening kickoff, it seemed like we couldn’t get anything to go our way. If there was a fumble or interception, and there were a few, they got it. If tackles and blocks were missed, then we missed them. When the lucky call came from a referee, it wasn’t going our way. As the minutes wore on, the team got more dispirited. At halftime, we were losing to the unranked Cyclones, by a score of 28 to 0. Adding insult to injury, as we made our way back to the locker room, the Iowa State fans started chanting, “Overrated! Losers!” They threw cans, popcorn boxes and other trash at our players and coaches. One beer can even found its way to Coach Snyder and hit his head.
When we finally managed to make our way to the safety of the visitor’s locker room, Coach Snyder issued a challenge to our players. He asked them to look inside themselves and decide if this kind of performance was what they’d worked so hard to achieve. All eyes were down. He asked again: Was this what we have worked so hard in practice for and why we established our plans and goals this season for? Do you like the way they are disrespecting us? Does that feel good? It’s your football team. What do you want to do about it?
Finally, one of our players and team leaders, quarterback Jonathan Beasley, stepped up and yelled, “No more disrespect! It stops right here and now! If they can score 28 in the first half, then we can score more in the second!” He called out to his teammates again. “Are you guys going to let them disrespect us like that or stand and fight?” The room started to catch fire, as one player and then another replied. “No more disrespect!” Another hollered out, “If they can keep us from scoring in the first half, then we can hold them scoreless in the second half!”

Beasley continued to cheer his team on. “Once we get that momentum rolling out there in the second half, then we are going to keep building and pushing. Before long we will have it rolling like a freight train. And keep pouring the coals to her boys, ‘til that engine is running red hot! Then we will steam roll right over those Cyclones and let the Power Cat train take us on to victory!”
Everyone shouted now “NO MORE DISRESPECT! –LET’S ROLL POWER CATS! NO MORE DISRESPECT! – LET'S ROLL POWER CATS!”

Our team tore out of that locker room like their lives depended on it, and carried that intensity over to the game. And when the final seconds ticked off the clock in Ames, Iowa, we found ourselves leading 35 to 28. We had made the greatest comeback in school history.

Jonathan Beasley won the Kevin Saunders Never Give up Award that year, as have other hard working young men in the years before and since. Every time it’s given, I can’t help but smile a bit when I think of what they’ve done with that one small lesson: We can all achieve more success in life when we Never Give Up!

Kevin’s time with K-State football as an inspirational and motivational coach led to Coach Snyder’s creation of the Kevin Saunders (Never Give Up) Award because of his lifetime positive attitude, overcoming adversity and inspirational faith he displays in a leadership role for K-State football and as a famous disabled American.

Alma mater is Kansas State University awarded him the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1995. The K-State football program (which achieved the greatest turnaround in college football history) established the 'Kevin Saunders (Never Give Up) Award' in 1993 for the player who demonstrates the most courage, perseverance and determination in never giving up in the pursuit of team goals.

Kevin’s time with Kansas State football and helping motivate and inspire the players to be the best they could be on the field on off was a time he greatly enjoyed and had tremendous passion for. Like Coach Snyder, Kevin also wishes that the players not only be a success on the fields of competition but most of all a success in life after they graduate from college.

Recipients of the "Never Give Up" Award!

Coach Bill Snyder created the Kevin Saunders "Never Give Up Award", to be given to the player who demonstrated the most courage, perseverance and determination to ‘Never Give Up’ in the pursuit of team goals.

Have you received the award? Or, do you know any of the recipients in the list below? If you have any information about the biggest accomplishments & what the past recipient is doing now please forward the information to info@kevinsaunders.com Thanks!

Recipients list, biggest accomplishments and what they are doing now:

Kitt Rawlings, SS 1993 - Kitt was a 4 year starter for Kansas State 90 to 93 and helped lead K-State to there first Bowl Game in the Snyder era the Copper Bowl where KSU defeated Wyoming 52 to 17. After graduating from Kansas State University he went on to coach at Southwest Missouri State University, spent time in the European National Football league and is currently 2009 the head coach at Ridgefield High School in the State of Washington.

Rod Schiller FB, 1994 - Great FB at Kansas State Rod is last known to be in Colorado with his wife Amy and they have a cute little girl! He runs his own Tax business.

Chuck Marlowe, SS 1995 - Last known to be teaching in Ohio with his wife.

Mitch Running WR 1995 - After Mitch left KU last known whereabouts unknown. I was told he went to Europe.

Joe Gordon, CB 1995 - Joe Gordon started his own speed and strength company and has been very successful. He is now at KSU in Athletic deep working for the football Team and recruiting. Joe is a very special guy that will for sure help coach Snyder and Kansas State football get things right!

Brian Kavanaugh, QB 1996 - Major accomplishments just a few and what is he doing now? Brian is now in Salina KS working for the same pharmaceutical company He has been tremendously successful and has been promoted up the ranks!

Travis Ochs, LB 1997 - I understand went with Jim Leavitt to SO FL and then onto AZ with Mike Stoops.

Martin Gramática 1997 - Martin Garmatica was the Lou Groza award winner in 1997 awarded to the best kicker in college football. Gramatica was a first-team All-America choice by the Associated Press both his junior and senior years and received the Lou Groza Award in 1998. Notably, he was 3-3 on field goals from 50+ yards his junior year, and as a senior kicked a phenomenal 65-yarder against Northern Illinois – the longest field goal in college and professional football history kicked without a tee. He also earned nickname "Automatica Gramática" because of his tremendous accuracy as a field goal and extra point kicker. Gramática was selected in the third round of the 1999 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and played there for five seasons. He was the starter for the NFC Pro Bowl team in 2001. He also played for the Super Bowl Championship Tampa Bay Buccaneers team that won Super Bowl XXXVII at the end of the 2002 season. He also played for the following NFL teams Indianapolis Colts, New England Patriots, Indianapolis Colts, Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints. He is currently running a kicking camps called the Gramática Kicking Camps (American football place kicking and punting) in Tampa, Florida and surrounding area with his two brothers.

Jeremy Martin, OG 1998 - Any information please let us know.

Frank Murphy, RB 1999 - Any information please let us know.

Jonathan Beasley, QB 2000 - Jonathan spent time in the CFL and then coached at Montana State. He has recently joined coach Snyder and his staff back at Kansas State University football on the coaching staff.

Travis Wilson, FB 2001 - Any information please let us know.

Rock Cartwright, FB 2002 - Any information please let us know.

Thomas Hill, TE 2003, 2004 - Any information please let us know.

Jordan Bedore, OL 2005 - Any information please let us know.

Marcus Watts, S 2006 - Any information please let us know.

Grant Gregory, QB 2009 - Any information please let us know.