The Phillip J Bowen Award is given to people who exemplify extraordinary service to their community and to helping others. Big House Big Heart was started by Mike Highfield to honor his law partner Phil Bowen, from the law firm, Conlin, Mckenney and Philbrick. Phil passed away 2 weeks before the first BHBH, stricken with ALS. BHBH began as an event to raise awareness about ALS and to raise money for ALS research at the University of Michigan. It has grown into a fundraiser also for CS Mott Hospital and UM Cardiovascular Center plus hundreds of area non profits, many of which Phil Bowen served during his life in Ann Arbor.

The 2012 Philip J. Bowen Award winners are Dick and Norma Sarns.

Dick and Norma Sarns have been leaders in the Ann Arbor community for more than fifty years. As the founders of two local companies - Sarns, Inc., and NuStep, Inc. - they have combined a passion for health and wellness with an entrepreneurial spirit and dedication to serve.

Norma met Dick on a blind date in 1949 after she had moved from her childhood home in the Upper Peninsula to Ypsilanti to attend Michigan State Normal College (now Eastern Michigan University). Dick was just back to his native Mt. Clemens after four years in the navy where he had trained as an engineer. They dated three years, while Norma finished college and Dick attended Lawrence Technological University in Detroit, and they married in 1952.

When Norma asked Dick, "What are our goals?" their journey as entrepreneurs began. They agreed that they wanted to start a business that would contribute to society in a positive way. They founded Sarns, Inc., in 1960 to build medical devices for surgical procedures. The company made its name with a heart-lung machine used during open-heart surgery.  A Sarns model was used in the first human heart transplant, which occurred in 1967 in South Africa, and in the first artificial heart implant in 1982.

Dick and Norma sold their company to 3M in 1981 and Dick stayed on as general manager until 1986. The Company is now owned by Terumo Cardiovascular which still builds medical devices on Jackson Road and is the leading supplier of heart lung systems in the world. 

In 1987 Dick and Norma founded NuStep, Inc. with a mission to transform lives. NuStep's principal product is a "recumbent cross-trainer" that is designed, marketed and manufactured here in Ann Arbor and shipped to hospitals, physical therapy centers, senior living centers, and private homes throughout the world. To date, over 50,000 NuSteps have been sold.

Designed by exercise physiologists, including Dick and Norma's son, Steve, NuStep was originally intended for people in cardiac rehab but quickly reached a wide audience, including people with various mobility difficulties and people wanting to improve their health and fitness. Norma, who has multiple sclerosis, uses the NuStep every day for a total body workout.

While employing hundreds of local residents over the years, Dick and Norma have also contributed to the community through many volunteer roles. Norma has helped several local nonprofits get established, including the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum, the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation, and the Washtenaw Community College Foundation. She served on the Michigan Theater Board and still serves on the boards of the United Methodist Church Retirement Homes and the Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living.  In 2003, Norma won the Ann Arbor News Citizen of the Year award, primarily for co-chairing a five-year Campaign for Women's Health on behalf of St. Joseph Mercy Health System.

Dick has been equally active in the community.  He chaired a United Way campaign and the Michigan Technology Council and served as the vice-chair of the founding board of Washtenaw Technical Middle College and as an advisor for the EMU School of Technology. Dick has also judged the Southeastern Michigan Science Fair and helped build exhibits for the Hands-On Museum. More recently, he has served on the local board for the American Heart Association and the national advisory board for U-M Hospital's Cardiovascular Center. He also supports the U-M Medical Innovation Center.