Faith, family and football | News

It’s all about Jesus.

After four decades as a coach, six state championships and an unparalleled career as the winningest high school football coach in Illinois history, that’s how Coach Ken Leonard sums up his career.

It would be easy to discount the statement as a throwaway line like: “Leave it on the field,” “One game at a time,” or “He always gave me 110%.”

But Leonard speaks of his savior with zeal. He has an assistant coach not just for things like offense and defense, but for character development. He may be a coach at a Catholic school, but his tone is trademark evangelical.

“Our goal is to be champions, but our purpose is to be Christlike.”

Those words are emblazed on the press box overlooking Sacred Heart-Griffin’s football field.

He quotes scripture quickly and confidently as part of his everyday speech. “One of my favorite scriptures is Romans 1:16,” he said, referring to the verse which reads: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”

And yet, he isn’t a member of any congregation.

“I don’t belong to any church anymore. But I’m a Christian. That’s what I am: a Christian. And I believe Jesus is our Lord and savior. And I still go to Mass. One of my very best friends is Bishop (Thomas) Paprocki. I’ve got a great relationship with him, with all the nuns. They’re great Christian Catholics. … So, I don’t get caught up in the theology part of things. It’s just, where can I get fed the best as far as the word of God?”

He attends Westside Christian Church, which considers itself a nondenominational Protestant congregation.

“The Catholics – Mass – I love it. I was born and raised Catholic, but I also know that I need to get fed in some other ways sometimes,” he said.

Hard times growing up

Leonard grew up in a home where hard, sometimes brutal, work was expected. His father owned a grain elevator in Chenoa, a blip on the map about 27 miles north of Bloomington-Normal. He spent his teen years as a small-town football star, a quarterback destined for big things. But it wasn’t all Friday night lights for the budding athlete.

He found himself shoveling in corn bins, clearing rotten muck out of rat-infested grain pits and always aware that dangers surrounded him. It was an era when it was not uncommon for farmers and elevator workers to die from suffocation after being swallowed by piles of grain.

And more menacing were the spinning augers and shafts that could rip away a limb in less than a second. Leonard witnessed the aftermath of one such accident.

“We had a hired man who caught his leg in an auger, and it took it off all the way to the hip. My dad held him up and gave him some whiskey. Of course, there wasn’t a doctor anywhere nearby, so he just had to keep holding him there until the fire department came.”

The man lived, but his severed leg had been ground to a mass of blood, sinew, skin and bone lodged within the auger tube.

After the injured worker was hauled to the hospital, his father ordered the teenaged Leonard to clear away the chunks of flesh and bury them.

“It was the late ’60s, there weren’t as many shields on equipment back then. Things just weren’t as safe,” the 69-year-old coach said with a sigh.

Growing up, his father never told him that he loved him.

“He was a World War II vet from the Greatest Generation. That’s just the way he was,” he said. And the elevator was his dream, a business to pass on to his six children.

That dream was shattered when fire destroyed the elevator and a business partner reneged on his responsibilities.

“So now my dad being who he was … he was going to live by his word. So, he paid everybody off, but had nothing left. And we had to sell and close the doors and leave. And then things got really tough. And I stayed in Chenoa to finish my last year (of high school) and lived with friends. My dad’s a tough guy. I had five siblings and he just said, ‘Listen, you don’t stain the name. You better not do anything wrong.'”

The future coach paid his way through college working above the Arctic Circle as a welder’s helper constructing the Alaska Pipeline. He played football for three colleges and graduated from Illinois State University.

A remarkable coaching career

Leonard began his coaching career in Gridley, a village near his hometown, then joined SHG in 1984, where he has coached for 39 years. He retired as the state’s all-time winningest coach with a 419-81 overall record over 42 seasons, according to the Illinois High School Association. He posted a 387-72 mark at SHG.

Leonard took 10 trips to the state finals and captured titles in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2013, 2014 and 2022.

His life has been a modest one. He’s lived in the same small house a block from the SHG campus since he moved to Springfield 39 years ago. Until recently, he has only driven used cars. His life has revolved around faith, family and football.

“Coach Leonard knows contentment,” said Kevin Elliott, area director with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. “I know he was approached about being a college coach and he considered it. But at the end, he was happy at SHG and decided to stay – despite the opportunity for new challenges.”

Leonard’s role as a mentor isn’t limited to the hundreds of students who have played for him over the years. He also coaches other coaches – many of whom he competes against.

“Every Thursday morning, for more than 20 years, he has hosted a coaches’ Bible study in his office at SHG. He asked to host it so that he would be held accountable for showing up and unlocking the door,” said Elliott. “But we have had coaches from Lanphier, Springfield High and schools all over the area come. I was trying to count how many coaches have gone through that Bible study. It has to be way over 75.”

Bryan McKenzie, Midwest football director for FCA, says Leonard is someone other coaches go to when they are hurting.

“I know coaches who have been fired who have turned to him for guidance and support, and he’s always there for them,” he said.

Leonard is no stranger to personal pain.

In 2000, he lost his adult foster son, Philip Pearson, in a car accident. And in 2017, Liz, his wife of 40 years, died of breast cancer.

Liz first encountered Philip while teaching in a Springfield public school when he was a 10-year-old. He had been in multiple foster homes and his mother was in prison.

“I told Liz right away that if we are going to take him in, it was for keeps. That child had gone from one foster home to another over the years and he needed stability,” Leonard said.

Finding Jesus

The decision to foster Philip irrevocably changed Leonard’s life.

It was a period when Leonard was seeking greater purpose and meaning in his life, McKenzie said.

Leonard found himself visiting the barber who provided free haircuts to Philip and other foster kids.

“Philip wanted to go to Rick’s to get his hair cut. So, I’d go there and he had pictures of Jesus up on his wall and a Bible. But he never preached the Word to me. … I went to the bishop and we talked and then went to confession, and it was good. That was down at the cathedral. And then from the cathedral, I stopped back in at the barbershop and I said, ‘I don’t know why I’m here, but I’m here and something’s missing in my life.’

“And Rick says, ‘I know what’s missing, and that’s Jesus.’ He read me some scriptures. I really never got into the Bible before. At Mass you hear the homily and stuff, but I never really knew scripture and it was like, ‘Wow!’

“He read simple things like John 3:16 that I’d probably heard before. But all of a sudden it just sunk in. And so, I prayed with him and asked Jesus to come into my life. And then being the skeptic, I said, ‘Well, I don’t hear no whistles and bells.’ He said, ‘Well, if you did, it probably wasn’t real anyway.’

And I walked out, and guess what? Every day I would come back and then he’d give me more scripture to read. I’d read it, and then I’d have questions. And then he would just always back up (his answers) in scripture. … And then I just went all in because the more I was in it, my eyes just opened. Oh, my goodness.”

Coaching with love

It not only changed his life, but how he coached.

Both he and Liz became surrogate parents for many of the players.

“My parents were divorced, and my father really wasn’t a part of my life. So, Coach stepped forward and helped play that role,” said Eric Peterman, a quarterback for SHG in the aughts. “When it came time to visit college campuses, Coach went with me to each college. We visited Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Illinois and where I ultimately attended, Northwestern.”

Peterman went on to play for the Chicago Bears and now works in the solar power industry.

But Leonard’s role in Peterman’s life didn’t end when he left football.

“I had the unfortunate experience of losing my son as well. When I was going through that a couple years ago, the coach was there for me. My son was 4 years old. He had muscular dystrophy and that ended up taking his life,” Peterman said. “He was my first child. I was really looking forward to seeing him play football. Just going through that experience was pretty difficult. But seeing how Ken lived his life and got through it gave me inspiration and helped. I talked things through with him. He was there for me.”

Peterman said the coach’s orientation is to build character and integrity in each of his players.

“Football isn’t forever, but life is,” he said. “He wants us to be good husbands and fathers and be successful in our careers. And he wants us to know Jesus.”

“He prays with us before and after every practice,” said Jake Hamilton, a wide receiver for SHG on this year’s championship team.

McKenzie with FCA said, “The biggest motivator in life is a four-letter word. It isn’t ‘fear.’ It’s ‘L-O-V-E.’ That’s the coach’s secret to success. He genuinely loves those kids. He wants them to succeed on and off the football field.”

A painful death

It is a love that has been reciprocated by SHG athletes, administrators and staff.

He was married to his wife, Liz, for 40 years until she died after a long bout with breast cancer.

“The best time in my marriage was the final two years,” Leonard said. “For the first 38, she looked after me. But for the final two I got to look after her.”

“His wife, Liz, was a really special woman – as you can imagine – being married to Ken,” said Sister Katherine O’Connor, president of SHG. “We just did what we could to support him and to let him know that we were there for him. Other people, at that point, could take care of football; he needed to take care of Liz.”

Former State Journal-Register sports editor Jim Ruppert said Liz’s battle with cancer became a central part of the coach’s story.

“I remember when things got bad, they had this thing at the field. Liz was still alive and she was there for it. They brought her out on a golf cart, and it was just touching, and they named it Ken Leonard Field,” he said.

Three months later, on Dec. 31, 2017, Liz Leonard died. Her death sent ripples not only through SHG’s football program but also Rochester High School’s, where Liz and Ken’s son, Derek, is the football coach.

“Derek is a total mama’s boy, and he was really bothered by it. Your heart goes out to him. I know what it’s like to go through that – your stomach is turning all the time,” Ruppert said.

Derek’s decision to follow his father into coaching didn’t come as a surprise.

“I wanted to play in the NFL or play in the NBA or MLB; I just loved sports,” said Derek Leonard. “At a young age, I was smart enough to realize I’m probably not going to be good enough or tall enough. So, the next best thing for me was to coach. I loved the life we lived. We didn’t have much money, but you know what? I didn’t know any different. It was a great life, and honestly, it’s all I’ve known.”

Ken and Liz Leonard’s other son, Brad, is a vice president at Bank of Springfield and oversees the bank’s insurance division.

Father against son

SHG and Rochester play each other at least once each year in what local radio personalities have dubbed the “Leonard Bowl.”

“It’s horrible, horrible, horrible. It was no fun at all,” Ken Leonard said of his feelings about playing his son. “It was his job to get his team ready and my job to get my team ready. The regular season is doable. But the playoffs are horrible, especially when you think about the semifinals – one of us is going to go to a state championship. That is the ultimate reward in high school. And yet you’re beating your son, or he’s beating his dad.”

That said, he is not bothered that people call the annual game the Leonard Bowl.

“It was good for football. It was good for our community. The level of football has really come up because of it,” he said.

The game was particularly difficult during Liz’s illness.

“It was not fun, and I’m glad it’s over,” Derek Leonard said. “No one wants to play their son, and I don’t want to play my dad. The last few years have been really tough, knowing it’s coming to an end. Obviously, when Mom was sick, it was tough. …. He wanted to see me do well and be successful, but at the same time, it’s at his team’s expense. … People say, ‘Oh, it’s just football.’ That’s very true, but it’s tough. I don’t care what you’re doing, if you have to compete against your father or your son, it’s never easy.”

Growing up, Derrek Leonard was taught to keep competition in perspective, and he saw how his father’s life changed when he experienced a spiritual rebirth.

“I was just old enough to kind of see it and understand,” he said. “I saw how he changed on the field. Obviously, I saw it in our house. I saw how he was as a husband. … He just became such a loving and caring person and cared about others. And he coached that way. … I really think it changed the trajectory of him as a coach. I think he would have had success, but not to the level he did. There’s just no way.”

New wife, new life

Following Liz’s death, Ken Leonard attended a grief class at Westside Christian Church where he met Angie Madison, whose husband had also been a coach.

“He had lost Liz. Three weeks later, I’d lost my late husband, Mick. And we met at Grief Group. I knew of him, of course. He actually came to my late husband’s wake because he knew my son-in-law. And then we started Grief Group. We just had a connection. … We just kind of knew immediately that God had a plan and that’s what was meant for both of us.”

They have been married for nearly four years.

Angie Leonard said as Ken enters retirement, they plan to spend two winter months a year in Florida. They also are contemplating doing short-term mission work in Africa and participating in a ministry to help Lanphier High School students.

Storybook ending

Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki has an office in the same building as Ken Leonard and has gotten to know him well during his years leading the Catholic diocese.

“He’s a committed Christian. He always prays with the team before and after the games. Before the championship game, he asked me to say a prayer with the team. He sees to it that the team goes to Mass on the morning of game days,” he said.

“I’ve also seen him at various team gatherings that are not necessarily in the chapel or in a church where he very openly talks about his relationship with Jesus Christ. And I think that’s a very admirable thing, especially for the young players on our team, to have an adult in the sports world giving witness to Jesus Christ.”

Paprocki said it is important for boys and young men to have a male role model showing the importance of faith.

He added Ken Leonard had the perfect ending to a magnificent career.

“In this case, I’d say it was pretty much a storybook finish,” Paprocki said. “What a way to end a coaching career, to win your sixth championship in your 500th game as a coach. And the game the preceding week was another storybook game: the come-from-behind win against Rochester, coached by his son. It’s a wonderful script. It would be a wonderful novel, but it’s even better because it’s true.”

Scott Reeder, a staff writer for Illinois Times, can be reached at: sreeder@illinoistimes.com.