Meet Scott St. Sauver
As you follow along with the Champions Tour this season, you may notice a new face appearing in videos and conducting interviews with our Champions Tour anglers, a man whose personality and reputation are highly regarded by some of the top professionals in the industry.
That man is Scott St. Sauver, who will be joining the Champions Tour team as our media personality or the man in charge of bringing out the best in all of our anglers.
Scott comes to us after an illustrious 37 year military career including multiple tours of duty in Iraq and the Middle East. Serving our Country in the military runs deep in his family, all four of his children have served and two are still active duty.
He graduated from South Dakota State University with a degree in agriculture and park management, eventually getting his Master’s Degree in education as well. After teaching golf course management at local technical college he returned to active duty where he served in multiple positions with the Minnesota National Guard. In 2010 he took command of Camp Ripley where he stayed until 2017 when he retired.
Scott has always been, in his words, an “avid angler” who has always been involved in the outdoors and also heavily involved with veterans programs. He met professional angler and Champions Tour angler Mark Courts and was quickly able to make connections through Mark’s network.
He began fishing as Mark’s co-angler and meeting more walleye pros who were involved in various veteran angling programs. Scott met Al Lindner who quickly took him under his wing to show him the ins and outs of the industry and the fishing market.
Through these new connections Scott wanted to find a way to give back to those that had served, as he recalled his tours in Iraq, and so many of his soldiers reminiscing on hunting camp or fond fishing memories they had from back home.
Upon taking command of Camp Ripley he contacted the veteran’s service organizations and started a very unique fishing program where veterans and active duty military members would come together in the same boat to fish and share their experiences. What started out as a 25 boat event on Mille Lacs and the Mississippi River now caps out at 100 anglers each event. Through this program is also where he met Scott Bonnema and the two have become extremely close friends.
Scott’s non-profit called “American Heroes Outdoors” airs on Fox Sports North and Fox Sports Wisconsin and documents the stories of military members, first responders, and more as well as shining light on the non-profits that support these great people. “Everybody has a story, I just wanted to provide an outlet to tell it,” said Scott.
After fishing as a tournament walleye angler for a few years both as a co-angler and as a pro, Scott started guiding professionally. He took an interest in the Champions Tour thanks to his previous connection with Scott Bonnema. “I’m just so excited to be joining the Champions Tour because I’m all for it. I’m all for the format, I’m all for every fish counts, I’m all for the catch and release aspect, I just love the way it lays out including the live scoring.”
Perhaps what Scott is looking forward to most is really getting to know the anglers, making personal connections, and bringing out the side of them they may not even realize they have. Something he is already used to doing from his former career. “I’m kind of a dynamic guy, not shy, I just enjoy getting people to talk and express their passions. These competitive anglers have a passion for this that can even be hard to explain and every story is different, that’s what I want to bring out and show.”
One thing we know for sure, Scott doesn’t lack in character or personality and we look forward to having him as a key member of the Champions Tour team this season. Follow along with Scott to catch up on all things Champions Tour as we close in on our opening event just days away.
