Jake: Inspiring Guy

Jake Sauer was an inspiring guy. As I read this blog, I see that he inspired many people -- to do well. He inspired his fellow cyclists to pedal harder. He inspired budding fashionistas to wear fancy shoes. He inspired RIM co-workers to be excellent. In fact, as many of the entries have alluded to, there was something about Jake that inspired pretty much everyone he encountered to live life a little more fully, to give a little more effort, to have a little more wonder.

I don't even exactly remember how I first encountered Jake about 12 years ago at Conrad Grebel College. But he immediately made an impression on me and my 1st-year engineer friends. As a wise and seasoned 2nd-year engineering student, and a member of the elite Security forces at Grebel, he stood out. Jake's panache captured my imagination. I immediately looked up to him.

What, you might ask, would be an appropriate response to the reverence of a first-year frosh towards another, older student? The answer seems simple when you hear it: name a intramural basketball team after him. And so we did. Jake was very good-natured about the whole thing, even affording us a certain level of good-humoured support. And though we failed to bring home the championship to honour Jake, I hope that, secretly, he must have been a little pleased at having been the inspiration for such an elite band of basketballers. It should be noted that, while we did shave "Jake" into our heads for an important game, we never realized the ultimate coup of systematically closing the blinds in the Library on campus to spell his name (though we did create a fairly detailed plan). (Interesting bit of trivia: I should perhaps note here, that though the team's name was fairly high profile -- even making it into the University newspaper -- the basketball team was not the first thing we named after Jake. About 1 month into the year, we also named our pool cue Jake Sauer.)

Unfortunately for me, as I left Waterloo and environs a few years later, I didn't manage to keep up contact with Jake. Then, last year, on a bit of a whim, I emailed him. I was delighted to receive a reply and correspond with him for a while. And, he still inspired me. Though no longer a grinning, orange-clad 2nd-year engineering student, Jake's emails once again conveyed his unique joie-de-vivre. His emails were witty and thoughtful, and reminded me why I'd thought he was such a neat guy.

It feels like I can't really close this off in any way that doesn't sound either trite or pithy. It's hard to write about a gimmick basketball team in the face of the death of a man who was so much more. Thanks, Jake, for inspiring me and so many others.

Barrette Plett (bjtplett@yahoo.com)