During his childhood in upstate New York, Alexander "Sandy" Kuehl spent his summers playing lacrosse on the Akwesasne Mohawk Reservation, perhaps the best place in the world for a kid to learn the sport. The Mohawk Nation is a member of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, which invented lacrosse more than a millennia ago, calling it Teweerathon, or "little war."
"I wasn't as good as the First Nation players," Kuehl remembers, "but I got to learn the game really well."
Those summers paid off. Shortly after arriving at Johns Hopkins in 1962 as a pre-med major, during his first freshman football game, the future physician suffered a career-ending knee injury and was relegated to being the back-up goalie for the freshman lacrosse team in the spring.
But that didn't stop Kuehl from becoming one of the team's biggest supporters. During his undergraduate years, he was an enthusiastic cheerleader, getting to fire the cannon after each Hopkins goal. Kuehl credits Hopkins with laying the foundation of his professional success. "I learned the scientific basics I needed for medical school and so much more," he says. "I got to round out my education in a lot of different areas." Kuehl's lifelong fascination with history, for example, began in a class taught by the historian and biographer Steven Ambrose, who taught at Hopkins early in his career and became his advisor and lifelong friend.
Years later, back in Baltimore as a resident in emergency medicine and orthopaedic surgery, he served as the team's sideline medical staff during the 1978 season, when it clinched its second NCAA Division I title. And now, thanks to a significant gift to the program, Kuehl's name will forever be tied to Hopkins Lacrosse.
"There are only a handful of named coaching positions in our sport," says Peter Milliman, the new Alexander Kuehl Head Coach of Men's Lacrosse. "This is a meaningful gift that makes clear the depth of support we have here at Johns Hopkins."
"Sandy has set such a high standard for what it means to be an invested, supportive alum," says Jennifer Baker, associate vice provost and director of athletics and recreation. "This is reflective of a lifetime of investment in the program and the university."
Since graduating as the president of his class in 1966, Kuehl received his medical degree from the State University of New York at Syracuse before heading back to Johns Hopkins for his residencies and the Bloomberg School of Public Health for his MPH. For four years he was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar. During that time, he lived in a rehabbed house in Fells Point and rode his bike up the hill to the hospital each day.
"They called me the hippie doctor of Fells Point," Kuehl remembers.
After "bleeding Blue Jay blood for nine years," Kuehl went on to become a clinician at Maryland Shock Trauma. He then served as the vice president and medical director of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation and the New York City EMS System. He retired as the emergency physician-in-chief at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center.
But even during his long and busy career, Kuehl served his alma mater in myriad ways, planning class reunions and spearheading the establishment of the Class of 1966 Scholarship Fund, which provides financial support to undergraduate Hopkins students. He also kept rooting for the lacrosse team as the Blue Jays notched seven more national titles.
"Sandy is genuinely interested in, and excited about, our program's success," says Milliman, who recently had the chance to meet Kuehl when he and his wife Jane hosted a team dinner in Florida, where they live. "He was excited to meet the guys. He spent the evening asking them questions and learning about their plans for the future."
"At the end of the day Sandy's a Blue Jay who wants to support other Blue Jays," Baker says. "That is the kind of example we want to be modeling for our players."
In advance of celebrating his 60th class reunion, Kuehl felt the time was right to make a gift he saw as "important for the maturation of the lacrosse team," he says. "Jane and I have been very fortunate, incredibly lucky, and we wanted to give something back."
"It has been a true joy to know Sandy and Jane over the past decade," says Grant Kelly, executive director of development at Hopkins. "I hope their generosity will inspire our lacrosse alumni and Hopkins community to join them in backing the team as we relentlessly pursue our next national championship."
Kuehl's gift will continue to help the team perform at an elite level, according to Baker. "Lacrosse has a huge impact on shaping the community and culture here at JHU," she says. "Part of honoring Sandy's investment is ensuring that lacrosse continues to bring Blue Jays together across generations."
