A List
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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