Rich Saul

Bryce Alderton

For 12 years Rich Saul banged shoulder pads with fellow grown men

in the NFL. Now the former Los Angeles Rams’ center, who was an

All-Pro six times in his 12-year career, and five-year Corona del Mar

resident bangs the occasional golf shot at one of the charity golf

tournaments he participates in yearly to help raise money for abused

children or for cancer research.

Saul is the big guy with a big heart -- a 6-foot-3, 250-pound

54-year-old man who has spent the last 16 years working with Fidelity

National Title Insurance Co.

But he prefers to speak about the charities he’s involved with

that include an honorary chairman position on both the American

Cancer Society, which he’s been the chair for 12 years, and Childhelp

USA, dedicated to the prevention and treatment of child abuse and

neglect. Saul has been an honorary chairman for three years with

Childhelp USA.

He also donates time with The Boys and Girls Club, Children’s

Hospital of Orange County, the Orange County Youth Foundation and the

Orangewood Children’s Foundation.

“It’s a blessing when I see somebody smile that needed to be

helped out,” Saul said. “I sit here and say, ‘God allowed me to live

on this earth for 50 years so I ask myself, Did I make a difference?

Did I help somebody out, or was it all about me and what can I do for

myself?’”

When Saul heard from a doctor in April 1995 that he had stage 3

colon cancer, which he said the doctors at the time only gave him

five to 10 years, he began soul searching and came to some

conclusions.

“I wasn’t as devastated as much as looking at (the cancer) as just

another training camp,” Saul recalled. “I realized the only thing God

gives you is today. The key is, ‘What are you doing while you are

alive?’ I try and make the world a better place, try to help people

out and be kind to them. I have to answer to a higher authority and

it’s not graded on a curve. I think we lose sight of that every once

in awhile.”

Now married for 33 years to his high school sweetheart, Eileen,

and raising two grown children, Jamie and Josh, Saul said he valued

watching his children grow up.

Josh just graduated from Northwestern University in Evanston,

Ill., while Jamie lives in Chicago working for Morgan Stanley.

“I love spending time with Jamie and Josh and I have a great wife

in Eileen,” Saul said. “I have no regrets. We’ve built a lot of

memories and had a lot of fun times.”

Instead of sprinting full speed at tackling dummies like he used

to, Saul now likes to spend his free time fishing, hunting and

golfing.

He participated in the Orange County Chapter 20th Annual Celebrity

Golf Classic at Pelican Hill Golf Club in Newport Coast May 21 for

Childhelp USA, and on Sept. 30 will be at the American Cancer

Society’s 14th annual Corporate Challenge Cup golf tournament at

Santa Ana Country Club, which will help raise money for cancer

research, specifically prostate and colon cancer.

In addition to the golf tournaments, Saul’s work with the Orange

County Youth Foundation includes raising money to give scholarships

to Orange County scholar-athletes and volunteering with the

Orangewood Children’s Foundation, an emergency facility for abused

and neglected children.

Saul currently isn’t going through chemotherapy and takes each day

as it comes.

“I’m just glad that I can look back on my life and not make any

apologies such as could have spent more time with my kids or helped

some people out.”