It was a few years in the making, but the Flip Saunders Gymnasium has two new digital scoreboards. Installed on either end of the basketball court, the boards are thanks in part to a generous donation from Debbie Saunders, wife of the late Flip (Philip) Saunders (Cuyahoga Heights High School Class of ’73). “It’s a beautiful upgrade, '' said Cuyahoga Heights Schools’ Athletic Director Ryan Kelber. “It brings an extra dimension to our gym.”
Scoreboard MD of Strongsville recently completed the installation. “We really wanted to support a local company,” said Kelber. “What excited us was the fact that Scoreboard MD technicians installed it themselves and if there were a need for service, we have a local company that can handle it.” Scoreboard MD also provided basic training on how to program the boards which Kelber said are easy to operate. One of the nicest features is the ability to customize the scoreboards for a particular contest. This includes the ability to display the visiting team’s name and individual player stats. “We’ll have additional training for all the workers when basketball season starts, so the scoreboards can be used to their greatest advantage,” said Kelber. Spotlights have been ordered to backlight the board so that the “The Flip” name is more prominent.
Saunders was an all-state basketball player at Cuyahoga Heights High School. He was named Ohio’s Class A High School Basketball Player of the Year in 1973 before going on to play basketball at the University of Minnesota. After college, Saunders began a career in coaching, working his way up from college to the NBA. He coached for the Timberwolves, Pistons, and Wizards, and also worked as an executive for the Celtics and Timberwolves.
Saunders was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2015. Just two months after announcing his diagnosis, he died at the age of 60. Cuyahoga Heights Local Schools dedicated the high school gym to Saunders in January 2020.