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1/17/00


SLU FOOTBALL STADIUM TO BE NAMED FOR ALUMNUS 

CANTON -- St. Lawrence University will build a new football 
stadium in the spring, and name it in honor of a distinguished 
graduate.
	The stadium, with a seating capacity of 1,500, has an 
estimated cost of $1 million. It will be called the Leckonby 
Stadium, in honor of William B. Leckonby of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
	Construction will begin on the stadium, sited at Weeks 
Field, in the spring and is expected to be completed by the fall 
of 2000.
	A 1939 graduate of St. Lawrence, Leckonby was a four-sport 
athlete (football, basketball, baseball and tennis) and campus leader 
while a student. Following graduation, he played for the Brooklyn 
Dodgers in the National Football League, later serving in the U.S. 
Navy during World War II. Leckonby became head football coach at 
Lehigh University in 1946. His 16 years of coaching included an 
undefeated season in 1950.
	He remained at Lehigh until his retirement in 1984, serving 
as director of athletics and physical education.
	Leckonby has been an active St. Lawrence alumnus, serving 
as a class agent, career advisor, fund-raising volunteer and two-term 
member of the Alumni Executive Council. He was elected to the 
St. Lawrence Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991. 
	Leckonby established the William B. Leckonby Scholarship at 
St. Lawrence, to assist athletes from the Capital District of New 
York State, especially football players from Troy High School, from 
which he graduated. He has also made a gift to the Advantage 2000 Fund 
of Campaign St. Lawrence, assisting the University's commitment to 
athletic, recreation and fitness opportunities for today's and 
tomorrow's students.
	"To have the new football stadium named the Leckonby Stadium 
is a great honor," Leckonby said. "The new stadium will be built 
adjacent to the same football field on which I played over 60 years 
ago. I am very proud of this recognition by the University."
	St. Lawrence President Daniel F. Sullivan said, "Bill Leckonby's 
thoughtfulness, generosity of spirit and insistence that we reach high 
in athletics as well in academics have served to inspire us. I'm 
pleased that we can honor him in this way, and thank him for his 
wonderful support of the University."	
	Leckonby is married to Amanda ("Johnnie") Johnston Leckonby, 
a 1945 graduate of Vassar College.
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