Perhaps Aaron Sauer's tweet, posted just days after the St. Louis Blues won the Stanley Cup, said it best.
"Months and years of a city being drug down is brought back up in one day!!! Thank you boys!! #stanleychampions,” he wrote on Twitter.
The St. Louis Blues ended a 52-year drought and brought home its first Stanley Cup in franchise history last month, uniting a city and invigorating a fan base that has stood virtuously beside its hockey team since its inception in 1967. Datamax has an office full of fans – employees there have celebrated the playoff run and eventual victory right along the team and the city at large, donning blue in the office, watching the last series with tightly-clinched fists, post-game commentary during morning coffee breaks, even hanging a “True Blue Champions” banner inside its lobby (A gift from VP of Marketing Robert Caldwell!).
As an organization, Datamax celebrates the cup not in company self-interest, or corporate window dressing, but as deeply engaged, intimately connected members of the St. Louis community. Datamax bleeds blue: the same shade, hue and intensity of its beloved hockey team.
True Blue Champions
“The. St. Louis Blues have always been much more than a hockey team for St. Louis,” Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer Steven J. Sumner said. “Since their franchise debut in 1967, the Blues have become more of a culture and a way of life for the city of St. Louis. Throughout their longstanding presence in the community, the people of Datamax have always kept very well connected with the Blues, and through the years, this has shaped our company culture in a very positive way.”
No fan has been more connected than Sauer, Senior IT Administrator at Datamax. A life-long Blues fanatic who played street hockey as a kid, worshiped hometown icon Brett Hull and used to regularly walk to games at the old arena, relished the championship in a state that bordered euphoria and near-denial.
“When the game was officially over, my kids and wife ran outside and started blaring airhorns (which Aaron had purchased earlier in the series – his kids were allowed to run outside and use them after every Blues goal scored. This undoubtedly piqued his kids’ interest). I was still laying on the floor in disbelief…. It really took a day or so for it to sink in for me.”
Aaron’s passion runs so deep that, these days, his favorite seat for the game is his own living room. He likes to see every minute closely, listen to the play-by-play analysis without the distraction that comes with public viewing. He watches every game (this season, this decade, and so on) without exception… even when the team found itself in last place in January.
“It’s funny, in January there was a chant around the city, ‘Lose for Hughes,’ (Jack Hughes was the #1 prospect the Blues would have picked up had they ended up in last place). To come all the way back from then, to go down to the parade…I think everyone is just riding a wave of emotion. Bringing people together and celebrating downtown, it’s just amazing.”
True Blue Causes
Datamax’s presence in St. Louis precedes the Blues by 11 years. Though Datamax and its employees have always supported local teams, and welcomed the St. Louis Blues, they’ve loved their community in a myriad of ways before and during the vigors of a championship run.
Each year all year long, the Saint Louis office has "Casual for a Cause" Fridays. For $10 a month employees may dress casual on Fridays. Every December the office votes on charities they’d like to help and uses the funds raised to support a local cause.
Last year, they chose the Stray Rescue and Crisis Nursery and purchased items of need leading up to Christmas. Stray Rescue helps rescue dogs and cats in the Saint Louis area, while, Crisis Nursery is an organization helping to save babies' lives, keeping kids safe and building strong families.
Community engagement is important not only for public perspective, but employee perspective as well.
“Customers prefer to purchase from a company they know, and community involvement breeds a sense of familiarity,” Human Resources Administrator Terri Hackmeyer said. “It’s not only customers who feel more positively toward a company that gets involved with community. Employees do as well.”
The recent Blues cup title has only magnified that sense camaraderie, sense of connection to the city in which employees drive to work every day. Leasing Manager Cathy Johnson says the Blues Championship has brought a sense of unity to the city that was sorely needed. Now, almost a month after the champagne spilled out onto the streets of the downtown parade, no one feels that unity more than those blue-garbed Blues fans walking the halls of Datamax St. Louis.
True Blue Commitments
“Many people have waited all their life to see the Blues win the Stanley Cup, which was something that we could have only dreamed of in January this year,” Sumner said. “It may happen again next year, or it may never happen again, but either way, we witness an amazing occurrence in sports history this past month that in my opinion, can only be extremely positive for the future of the St. Louis, MO community.”
There is nothing more powerful than bleeding "True Blue." ... It means "YOU ARE ALL IN" no matter what, no matter how long, and no matter the cause. That's Datamax Saint Louis!!!
