YOUR AD HERE »

Donations sought for Shaffer monument at Truckee’s Surprise Stadium

When Truckee football players make their first walk down into Surprise Stadium next season they’ll add another chapter to the program’s storied history, and, if all goes according to plan, begin a new tradition at the school in honor of legendary coach Bob Shaffer.

Plans are underway to place a granite stone and a bronze plaque displaying the late coach’s name, a dedication, a quote, and dates of his nine state championships at the bottom of the stairs that lead to the field.

“Every person that knew Coach Bob personally felt his untimely passing deeply,” said Teri Lindsay Bergstrom of the Robert Shaffer Memorial Touchstone Committee. “Anyone, that was a member of his coaching staff or a fellow teacher, administrator, or staff member of the (Tahoe Truckee Unified School) District, remembers often how Bob Shaffer contributed by giving so much to the Truckee community. He gave his time, his brilliant coaching skills and most of all his ability to bring out the best in all his students and athletes, whether it was ‘on a field’ or in the classroom.”



Shaffer patrolled the sidelines as Truckee’s head coach for 18 years. He won 170 games, which according to the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association, is fourth all time, regardless of class, and was inducted into the association’s hall of fame in 2014. Shaffer also brought Truckee 14 league championships. He was killed on April 1, 2017, in a head-on vehicle crash.

Current and future Wolverines will now be able to honor his legacy by touching the stone before taking the field ahead of home games.



The stone, donated by Al Pombo, Inc., is already at Surprise Stadium and will soon be set in place, according to the memorial committee, but funds are still needed to pay for the plaque.

“Our committee, is all volunteer,” said Bergstrom in a statement. “We are committed to building the monument with donated time, labor, materials and equipment. However, the forged bronze plaque is costly and we are asking for community donations.”

A GoFundMe page, with the goal of raising $3,000, has been set up to pay for the plaque. The committee hopes to raise the funds in time to have the memorial monument ready for the start of next season, and said it will take roughly two and a half months to create the plaque and have it attached to the stone.

Donations for Shaffer’s memorial monument can be made at GoFundMe.com/Robert-Shaffer-Memorial-Touchstone. Direct donations can also be made at Bank of the West under the account name Robert Shaffer Memorial Touchstone.

Justin Scacco is a reporter for the Sierra Sun. Contact him at jscacco@sierrasun.com.


Support Local Journalism

 

Support Local Journalism

Readers around Lake Tahoe, Truckee, and beyond make the Sierra Sun's work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Your donation will help us continue to cover COVID-19 and our other vital local news.