The Wolverine

who has endowed 10 separate schol- arships within the athletic department at Michigan, laughs about his lock- out now. So did the man for whom the football fortress was eventually named. Michigan's highest-profile sport. U- M's marching band and Wolverine women everywhere remain eternally grateful. Shepherd, the retired businessman D on Shepherd once experi- enced the cold realities of Ft. Schembechler, the wall of se- crecy and protection around BY JOHN BORTON "I tried to go in and watch a football practice when Bo was there," Shep- herd recalled. "I got kicked out, so I went over and watched the march- ing band. That's the reason my history with the marching band is a lot longer than it is with athletics, in terms of ma- jor financial support. Guiding Gifts Don Shepherd Has Long Been A Friend To Michigan Athletics "I ran into Bo on a plane several years after that, and he really laughed hard about it. We were good friends in the end. I played in his golf tourna- ment every year he held it." Shepherd always understood in- vestment, retiring in 1995 as CEO of Loomis, Sayles & Co., a large money management firm in Boston. The firm handles state retirement funds, pen- sion funds at corporations and other large group investments. The 1958 U-M alum's stroll over to Elbel Field to watch the marching band wound up changing the game for that luminous aggregation in maize and blue. Shepherd "adopted" the band, underwriting the band director's po- sition, like he would later endow the athletic director's position itself. "I learned so much in working with the marching band," he said. "I found the same thing was true in athletics. I just hadn't recognized it. "Both of those programs really com- plement what you get in the classroom. I think of my experience. I wasn't an athlete, and I wasn't in the marching band. My sole experience was going to class. "There are so many things you learn in athletics in terms of always giving your best. Mediocrity doesn't work — it's unacceptable. You learn teamwork, time management, all these skills you can meld with your basic education. To me, it was important to support something like that." Shepherd's support has been un- Shepherd, a 1958 U-M alum, has endowed 10 separate scholarships within the athletic department at Michigan. wavering down through the years. He made friends in the athletic de- partment before he made any major commitments there, making it easy to eventually transition into giving in the area of athletics. PHOTO COURTESY U-M DEVELOPMENT plenty, in terms of helping pay the cost of educating athletes. After funding the recruiting lounge in Schembechler Hall, he began creating endowments with a football scholarship, with the Don Lund, former Michigan ath- lete, coach and athletic administrator, proved especially kind in those early interactions, Shepherd recalled. "Don was just a terrific friend," he noted. "He liked to just visit. He never asked me for a penny — he just liked to visit. I got to know him quite well, and [former athletic director] Don Canham was always friendly. "Here was somebody who really hadn't done anything for the program, and they just welcomed me with open arms." Before long, Shepherd was doing assistance of former athletic adminis- trator Fritz Seyferth. "When I'd go back to Ann Arbor in the athletic department, I'd always ask who were the really good coaches in terms of instilling values, not just win- ning percentage," he said. "How much did they care about the kids? How did they teach them?" These days, all of Shepherd's con- siderable generosity provides support for women's athletics at Michigan. The closer he got to the athletic program, the more he recognized a genuine need for help among those not drawing enormous throngs of fans. programs to believe in, and Carol Hutchins' softball crew fit those re- quirements perfectly. "Initially, they really were not given very much," Shepherd noted. "I re- member going to watch softball, and the kids would rake the field, they'd stripe the field and they'd pull the tarp on. They were really at a disadvantage. OCTOBER 2012 THE WOLVERINE 49 He still looked for coaches and

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