2010 – The Kansas Senate unanimously passed Senate Resolution No. 1819 sponsored by Senator Janis Lee adopted by the entire SENATE body, supporting Kevin Saunders for the position of chairman of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness & Sports. After the reading of the Resolution the Senate & guests gave tribute to Mr. Saunders with 5 minutes of applause for his accomplishments and to support him to become the next chairman of the President’s Fitness Council.”
Kevin Saunders plan as chairman includes following up on what Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger started over 20 years ago as Chairman of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness & Sports when he visited all 50 states to advocate for daily, quality physical education and fitness. Kevin formed the non-profit corporation entitled’ Fitness 4 All 50 state tour and plans when appointed chairman to also follow First Lady, Michelle Obama’s lead fighting childhood obesity and support her; “Let’s Move” campaign.” Governor Schwarzenegger’s quote about Kevin says it best! “Kevin’s broken body bears silent testimony to one who has overcome tremendous obstacles to get fit and beckons others to follow.” — California Governor Schwarzenegger
Kevin Saunders will visit all 50 states with a plan to encourage schools and school districts, students, parents, teachers and administrators, city and state officials to become lifelong supporters of the initiative to create accountability for fitness education, increased fitness activities and providing healthier choices. Kevin wants to get students and parents involved with frequent PTA meetings with the support of National healthy food vendors and fitness leaders to help the diverse at risk populations to learn how to incorporate eating healthy and exercising into their everyday lives. Also providing students and parents with information and education on how to properly read and understand food labels. The National healthy food vendors will help by providing free coupons as incentives for healthy foods, simple recipes and shopping tips to students and parents. Part of this plan involves helping students and parents understand how they can buy healthy foods and prepare them together as a family at a lesser cost and how it is better for you than eating out at fast food or convenience stores all of the time.
Kevin will be criss-crossing each state with his team to share his motivational message of how fitness, eating right and making healthier choices gave him his life back after being blown over 300 feet through the air onto a concrete parking lot. Leaving him hospitalized for almost a year. Kevin found himself paralyzed from the chest down with no core balance when he reentered mainstream life. Kevin Saunders came back to become a world champion wheelchair athlete earning the title “World’s greatest all-around wheelchair athlete” and became one of the top motivational speakers in America. Kevin will share his message of “Tragedy to Triumph” with students in big, medium and small school districts across each state in America. Kevin also wants to provide students with daily accountability journals so they can set their short & long term goals for the education, fitness & making healthier choices.
Kevin will follow the administrations lead to encourage school districts to buy into the First Lady’s “Let’s Move” campaign using preventative measures for obesity by providing healthier choices improved fitness and activities all students can take part in. Kevin will also meet with Mayors, City Councils and community leaders and concerned citizens and state Governors and their Health & Human Services staff to get them on board to provide the partnerships with corporate and business leaders. In order to help provide and raise the funds necessary to build the lifelong support mechanism that will promote and provide the fitness education and activities, healthy eating choices necessary to help maintain a lasting permanent change to reduce childhood obesity. Kevin wants to help cut down on the hundreds of billions of dollars being spent by our national health care system on obesity related diseases.
Kevin learned firsthand after working with Head Coach, Bill Snyder and being part of the “Greatest turnaround in college football history” that you have to get the student / athletes to buy into the program. Then you have to get the University President and Board of Regents and other university leaders to buy in as well and help provide the support and funds necessary to help Kansas State University compete with other major Division-1 football programs in America. Then you have to get the support of the Alumni to financially support your goals as well as businesses like Nike for uniforms and many others. You have to also get people to see things differently in Kansas State football that was Coach Snyder convincing people after only 4 winning seasons from WWII to 1990 Kansas State only had 4 winning seasons. The 5 years prior to Head Coach Bill Snyder’s arrival the football team had only won 4 games. As you can imagine convincing people they could win football games and become champions in football at Kansas State took not only a great plan, leadership it took a great deal of effort in many different areas to truly make a lasting winning change for the better.
By getting everyone working together for a common goal to improve fitness education, activities and making and providing healthier choices for our youth we can win the fight against childhood obesity in America!
Total miles pushed: 57
10:00 a.m. CST – This morning I met with Charlie Bargman, the Director of Parks and Recreation for the city of Chester, in front of the large bronze statue of Popeye. Elzie C. Segar, a resident of Chester, created Popeye’s character in 1929. We were told that Elzie was a small man who worked on the riverboats on the Mississippi River. Local legend has it that even though Elzie was small in stature, he never lost a fight. I like Popeye. He always looked out for the little guy and make sure he ate his spinach! Ha! I guess it is a little funny but it’s true. Eat right, stay fit and healthy and you can defeat the big old Brutus we call obesity. By staying healthy and fit you become a champion for healthy living and an example to the community. Are you, just one person, important? Of course you are! Your example will inspire others to live healthier and be more fit. Each individual making the decision to take responsibility for their own fitness will make this revolution happen!
5:00 a.m. CST – I woke up and got things ready to go. We received a donation from Ron Sanderson, a guest at the hotel, that morning during breakfast. Again, I just want to thank everyone who has contributed to this Tour. With their support and enthusiasm, I know the Tour will be a success and that together, we will be able to win the war against obesity.
6:00 a.m. CST – We got packed and ready to go. We left some thank you cards and spoke with people before we left.
6:30 a.m. CST – I departed for WISH-TV-CBS for a 7:40 A.M. live interview with Anchor Pam Elliot, on the “Good Morning Indianapolis” show. Pam Elliot was a great interviewer. She really covered the subject well and we were able to let her know that the Big Push and Revolutions tour was to raise awareness and to demonstrate that if I could push my wheelchair across America paralyzed from the chest down, then anyone can become healthy and fit whatever their limitations or adversity they must overcome. We discussed that after the Big Push, I would continue my fight for fitness and write and publish the book “Revolutions” about my journey and plans to improve
The speaking engagement to the USF Bulls went great! The players and coaches were really fired up to hear me speak and I was excited to speak to them and get to see my good friend Head Coach Jim Leavitt. Before I went I knew these guys were capable of doing great things and after meeting them I’m even more excited about their chances this year. I tell you, Coach Leavitt knows how to get the best out of his players so look out for the Bulls this year. In giving them a little motivational coaching I told them they had to think a little like Mike Tyson when he was starting out. He said you train and work harder than anyone so you know you can take care of business. When you enter the ring (or field of competition) and see your opponent standing in the way of where you want to go you’ve got to kill’em and take them out! I let them know they had to give their very best, work harder and smarter than the competition and forge their way to the championship one opponent, one game at a time. I explained that they had to out train, out think, and be more dedicated than any other team. I let them know that to achieve their goals they had to stay focused and sharp as a razor blade. The players and coaches seemed to really respond positively to what I had to say. I had them all sign a team ball we called the 2009 USF Constitution for football promising to do their best and never take the easy way out. They all were enthusiastic about the journals I provided for them and promised to keep track of their progress everyday by writing their daily improvements, goals, sacrifices, and a teammates name and position, grade and something about their teammates goals, home, or favorite things to do, etc. Coach Leavitt liked what I had to say as well and said he was going to hold each team member accountable to what they had promised when they signed that football. Coach Leavitt also wrote a quote of mine on the chalkboard so they could see it every day; “Never let the thought of taking it easy ever enter your mind.” Well I bet these guys live by that this season and beyond. So if you’re up against the USF Bulls, look out because when it comes to their opponents they’re gonna kill’em, cook’em and eat’em!
10:00 a.m. CST – This morning I was presented a Proclamation from Mayor Peterson. As a way to thank the mayor’s office for their support and commitment to the Kevin Saunders’ Health and Fitness Tour of America, I presented Mayor Peterson with a plaque. I gave an impromptu motivational presentation to let everyone know the purpose for this Tour and that I would continue spreading my message of motivation and inspiration during my journey. I challenged the city to get in shape before I returned. I offered to provide tools and resources to help with the efforts that are currently ongoing in the Indianapolis area to make everyone healthier. My new book, “Revolutions” is a great motivational tool full of tips and information about the tour. My other books, “Blueprint for Success” and “There’s Always a Way” are available as well at 
In addition to being a Paralympic wheelchair athlete and author I work as a motivational coach and inspirational speaker. In that role I’ve been invited to speak to the University of Southern Florida Bulls today. Bulls head coach Jim Leavitt and I worked together at Kansas State where he was the co-defensive coordinator while I was the team’s motivational coach. At that time under Coach Bill Snyder’s leadership Kansas State Football experienced what was later referred to as the greatest turnaround in college sports history. Here in Florida Coach Leavitt has created his own amazing story taking this team from non-existence to Division 1-A status in just five short years. Coach Leavitt is truly a man that lives the philosophy of never give up and there’s always a way.
8 a.m. CST- Today was great because I was able to meet with many different people. While I was in Portland, I presented Mayor Hozier a plaque from the Kevin Saunders’ Health and Fitness Tour of America. Stephanie Arnold, assistant to Mayor Hozier, was another one of the interesting people I met today. She is on the 2004 Olympic Women’s Archery Team that will be competing in Athens, Greece. We wished her good luck and told her to bring back the Gold. I also spoke with The Portland Commercial Review, Jay County’s daily newspaper. They interviewed me about my history and the mission of the Tour. I explained how I had overcome the tragedy I faced years ago to achieve goals I never thought were possible. I overcame adversity and found the motivation and inspiration to live my dream. My current dream is to help Americans fight obesity by supplying them with the motivation and the knowledge they need to be successful in that fight. My book, “Revolutions”, will cover my methods and plan to achieve that goal. We also talked about my motivational coaching & inspirational speaking career and how I used that platform to get my message across. New Castle, IN. I pushed two morning sessions, 20 miles each, with a little less than an hour break between. I pushed through Farmland, Modoc, and into Hagerstown. Then I had to get in the follow vehicle to get to New Castle in time for my 1:30 p.m. interview.Indianapolis, IN that afternoon, I got back in the van and we quickly drove to Indianapolis.Hagerstown to Indianapolis. But hey, I don’t let it keep me down. I’ll just keep rolling on spreading my message of health and fitness to everyone that will listen.