McKendree University Athletics

Leon Church ’32 was a great athlete and a great man at McKendree. As an athlete, he excelled especially in tennis, basketball and track. As a runner, he won the Freeburg-Belleville “marathon” race in 1929 and 1930. Later in his life, he continued to be athletic; he placed first in his class in bicycle riding at the Senior Olympics in Edwardsville in 1983.

After graduating from McKendree, he coached at a high school in Colton, South Dakota before joining the coaching staff of McKendree during World War II. He and his wife, Helen, purchased the Lebanon newspaper in 1939; the newspaper is still owned and operated by Leon’s son, Harrison. Leon and his wife were also three-time recipients of the Peter Akers Cup, in recognition of outstanding service to the College. In 1963, he successfully lobbied the Illinois Secretary of State to make the 1964 Illinois license plates purple and white in honor of McKendree.