Hank Leyland

Hank Leyland was weaned on football.

“Even before I was old enough to play, I felt like I knew the game,” Leyland, 56, said. “Guys were always gathering around our kitchen table talking football. And they did it with such passion.

“My father loved to debate and discuss the game. I grew up watching that, and that benefitted me. Heck, I thought every kid grew up like that. I never knew how lucky I was.”

Leyland's father, Harry Leyland, was involved as a youth football and basketball coach in the Butler area for more than 50 years. He coached the South Side Blue Streaks in the Butler Area Midget Football League, and Hank played for him.

Leyland wound up playing high school football at Butler, playing on a WPIAL co-championship team and becoming a tri-captain his senior year.

A 1979 Butler graduate, Leyland jumped into coaching in the BAMFL just two months later. He has since coached football at the midget, ninth grade, junior varsity and varsity levels in Butler. He wrapped up his coaching career and became president of the BAMFL for three years before finally getting out of the game.

“It's August, and I haven't stepped on a football field yet," he said. "It's kind of odd.”

He will be stepping on a football field again Sept. 22 — at Art Bernardi Stadium — to accept the Butler Football Hometown Hero of the Year Award prior to the Golden Tornado's game that night with North Allegheny.

The Butler Football Hometown Hero organization recently decided to honor one person connected to Butler football each year with the newly named Butler Football Hometown Hero of the Year award. Leyland will be the first person to receive that honor.

“He's a good pick,” former Butler head coach Garry Cathell said of Leyland. “The loyalty he's had to the program and football in general in Butler has been incredible.

“Hank has no ego. He loves teaching the game. He's a wonderful, wonderful human being, always helpful, generous and welcoming.

“The genuine, hard-working person that he is ... His popularity is based on that,” Cathell added.

A full report will appear in the Butler Eagle.