In this file photo from 1999, Harry Leyland poses for a picture. Leyland died Wednesday at the age of 85, but his legacy in both the Butler Area Midget Football League and with Butler Catholic as a basketball coach was felt by thousands of kids and lives on in the memories of those who knew him best.

Hank Leyland didn't have to search far to find his hero.

In fact, he didn't have to look at all.

“Some people have to spend their whole life looking for that hero, that person to look up to, a role model,” Leyland said.

“I was fortunate to grow up with one.”

Of course, Hank Leyland did not have an exclusive relationship with his father, Harry Leyland. He had to share his dad with hundreds — perhaps thousands — of others.

And didn't mind a bit.

Harry Leyland, a football coach in the Butler Area Midget Football League for 50 years and a basketball coach at Butler Catholic for 40 years, died Wednesday at the age of 85.

Hank wound up playing for his father with the South Side Blue Streaks of the BAMFL. He wound up coaching with him — and coaching years after him.

“I saw what he did and how he did it,” Leyland said. “He loved it. And I wanted to do what he did.”

Harry Leyland won 10 BAMFL championships while coaching at South Side and East Butler. He won numerous section titles, two diocesan championships and state playoff tournaments with Butler Catholic basketball.

He was inducted into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame in 1981. Butler Catholic named its gym the Harry Leyland Gymnasium in 2010. Leyland's name joined Greg Brown, Bob Zavacky and George “Red” Slater on a sign of gratitude posted on the wall of the locker room at Butler's Memorial Field last year.

None of those honors mattered much to Harry Leyland.

“He could have coached football at any level,” former BAMFL president Chris Morrow said. “High school, college, anywhere. He wanted to stay at the purest level — teaching kids who wanted to learn the game.

“The common denominator between football and basketball for him was being around people. He loved developing relationships with people.”

Butler County Community College basketball coach Dick Hartung said Leyland “left an impression on so many young men and women in this town, it's impossible to measure. His legacy is unbelievable.

“Harry was a giver. He wasn't a taker. All those years he coached, he never made a plum nickel. All volunteer ... incredible.”

A full story appears in the sports section of Friday's Butler Eagle.