This year’s Yost-Haddorff-Leopold Award winner is senior Logan Leonard. The other nominees for Mound Westonka High School’s 69th annual outstanding male athlete award were Tucker Anderly, Trenton Bowe, Jack Linder, Charles Herder and Mitchell Krebsbach.

The award began as the Yost Award in 1953, honoring the late Frank Yost—a local pharmacist and ardent community sports supporter, who died in 1952. In 1994, the award became the Yost-Haddorff-Leopold Award, also honoring the memories of Oscar Haddorff, who died in 1970, a year after retiring as a 25-year Westonka teacher, coach and athletic director; and Cory Leopold, a 1988 MWHS graduate and standout high school and college wrestler, who was killed in a car accident in 1993. The scholarship component was added to the award at that time and is given to the school’s top male and female athletes.

“Being honored with this award is a great accomplishment,” said Activities Director Jeff Peterson. “We are proud of Logan and congratulate him on a job well done.”

Leonard received 12 varsity letters in his MWHS career – four each in football, basketball, and strength and conditioning.

Leonard was a leader on the football team, earning All-Conference and All-District Awards his junior and senior years. He was named Team MVP and Offensive Player of the Year his senior year and was invited to play in the Minnesota 2021 All Star Football Game. A team captain and member of the Leadership Council, he was also named to the Individual Academic All-State team with a 3.953 GPA.

“One of my favorite football memories is playing against SMB (St. Paul Academy/Minnehaha Academy/Blake) in snow and freezing temperatures my junior year,” said Leonard. “They had many collegiate level players, and although we lost we gave them a very close game and our team played to the best of our ability.” Another great memory was the overtime win against Providence Academy in the first game of his senior year.

In basketball, Leonard was team captain his senior year and an integral part of the conference champion team all three of his varsity years. He was honored with the Spotlight on Scholarship and Heartbeat of the Team awards. Beginning in third grade, he played AAU basketball right up through his sophomore year.

One of Leonard’s best basketball memories is hitting the game winning buzzer beater shot against Patrick Henry as a sophomore. “It was a very chippy game that came down to a 3-pointer to win,” he said. “I shot it at the last second and made it.”

Leonard also enjoyed his last game as a White Hawk against DeLaSalle this season in the section finals. “While we didn’t win, we showed how good of a team we were by the close final score (50-59) and the great support from the fans,” he said.

Although Leonard had intended to play tennis this spring, a nagging ankle injury kept him off the courts. With increased physical therapy and off-season training, Leonard will be ready to play Division II football at Augustana University in the fall.

Leonard, along with the other senior athletes, will be honored at a May 20 Senior Athletic Recognition Banquet.