The Buffalo Sabres Alumni Scholarship Program was formed due to a need for our organization to have a common goal and the result of an alumni’s need for financial help to advance his children through College.

Click here to Apply for this Scholarship Program.

In late November 1993, the Alumni Association received a request from Brian Spencer’s sister in law Nancy Kent. The letter explained that just two months after Brian was tragically killed in Hollywood, Florida, Brian’s wife Janet had succumbed to cancer in a Long Island Hospital. Nancy and her husband were now raising Brian’s two boys, Jason 16 and Jarret 17. In the letter Mrs. Kent was requesting help if it was available, and if it was something the Alumni Association did in special cases like this.

In a meeting later that winter, the Alumni Board of Directors agreed to help Jason and Jarret. The Sabres Alumni donated $2,000 each, per year for four years. The Alumni Scholarship Program has never looked back. We are proud to say both of the boys graduated, Jason in 1998 and Jarrett in 1999. As a result of Nancy Kent’s initial letter, the program continues to support deserving full time students attending college or university in Western New York and Southern Ontario.

The money to support the program was generated from an annual golf tournament that was created by alumni members Jim Schoenfeld, Craig Ramsay, Fred Stanfield and Derek Smith. This tournament continues to this day and is supported by the Sabres Alumni members as well as several local businesses. As our alumni golf event began to grow so did our organization and the other events that have begun to help fund the program as well. We are able to give out an average of six scholarships per year to deserving students in the Western New York and the Southern Ontario region. Of the six scholarships given out each year, one is designated for an Alumni member’s son or daughter. The remaining scholarships are given to students that are in their senior year of high school and have excelled in community service.

To date, there have been over sixty six students that have received financial assistance through our scholarship program. Some of our scholarship winners have gone on to become successful doctors, attorneys, business people and have served their country in the military. We continue to get updates from our scholarship winners reminding us of the traits that were evident when they initially applied for the scholarship and the reason why they were selected.