Star Profile
Jimmy Sauls of Allstate Insurance
By John Temple Ligon Temple@TheColumbiaStar.com

Sauls

A long- time resident of Shandon, race director for the upcoming 26th annual Shandon Turkey Trot, insurance man Jimmy Sauls runs his Allstate office on Devine Street near the corner with Holly Street.

Sauls was born in Columbia, where his father was a lifetime employee in state government. His mother recently retired as a nurse who cared for autistic children in a private school.

There are two other nurses in the family. Sauls's wife Kellie cares for sick babies in the NICU at Palmetto Health Richland, and his sister Leigh is a nurse in Boiling Springs near Spartanburg.

Growing up in the Briarwood neighborhood, Sauls attended Windsor Elementary, E.L. Wright, and was a star baseball pitcher for Spring Valley High School.

By the time he graduated from Spring Valley, his pitching arm was ready for early retirement, so basketball and golf became his games of choice.

Sauls's maternal grandfather, Bill Herring, introduced him to baseball. Herring was manager of the Columbia Gems minor league baseball team in the mid- 50s.

While in high school, Sauls was Chick- Fil- A's nugget guy, and his best friend was the fry boy, as the staff called them.

At USC, Sauls majored in business, graduated with honors, and continued uninterupted for his MBA.

Sauls entered the work force as an information technology consultant, a role he kept for nine years while taking assignments in Chattanooga and Charlotte besides Columbia.

After purchasing the Allstate office at 2906 Devine Street, Sauls increased the office staff to four people.

In the U.S., Allstate is the No. 1 publicly held, shareholder- owned insurance company.

With that scale of operation, Sauls can carry almost everything because Allstate covers just about everything, even supplemental insurance like AFLAC's.

However, they don't have health insurance.

There is a restriction along the Atlantic coast. It's too risky for the rates allowed, so Allstate and its peers don't touch it. Sauls is aware of an expensive Lloyd's of London connection to help fill the void.

Other than the coastal problem, the business is basically recession proof, as Sauls sees it. What he sells, most people must have.

Sauls had to quit golf because the insurance office takes up most of his time. Instead, he began distance running. It works with his schedule.

Sauls has run four full marathons and seven half- marathons. He wants to gear up for next spring's Boston, but in his age category he has to qualify with a finish time of 3:25, a bit quicker than his last marathon.

The last chance to qualify for Boston is the Virginia Beach marathon in mid- March, which leaves time for a regular runner like Sauls to train.

Recently, Sauls moved from Shandon to Blythewood with his wife, three- year- old daughter, and his new son who was born September 6.