Judging by the turnout, Dr. Jim Stankiewicz ’66 was a popular choice to receive the Andy McKenna Leo Lions Legacy Award.
A crowd of more than 300 packed the Grand Ballroom of the downtown Four Seasons Hotel on Wednesday, December 4 for the ninth annual Leo High School Scholarship Benefit, where Dr. Stankiewicz was recognized with Leo’s highest honor.
Dr. Stankiewicz is not only a world-renowned ear, nose and throat specialist at Loyola Medicine, he is a tenured professor at Loyola’s Stritch School of Medicine and a loyal and generous Leo supporter and has been since his undergraduate days at the University of Chicago. At Leo he was an honor student, a class officer and a starter and co-captain on a Tom O’Malley-coached lightweight basketball team that won the Catholic League championship in 1966.
Lourdes Duarte, an anchor/reporter for WGN-Channel 9, served as MC for the second consecutive year and excelled at getting attendees to reach for their wallets. The night-of-event take from pledge cards was highest in the nine-year history of the Benefit, which is the largest source of revenue Leo has to fund tuition assistance for deserving students.
Speaking of world-renowned, the world-renowned Leo Choir opened the show with a three-song set that included the National Anthem, and closed it by leading the Leo-dominated crowd in the singing of the Leo Fight Song.
Dr. Stankiewicz is a St. Sabina graduate, and at his behest, Fr. Michael Pfleger delivered the invocation. A good friend to Leo, Fr. Pfleger is Senior Pastor at St. Sabina, and Jim believed Fr. Pfleger’s involvement in the program would underscore the ongoing commitment to the Auburn Gresham community which Leo and St. Sabina have shared, long after scores of residents, businesses and even churches abandoned an area too often miscast as blighted.
The crowd paid rapt attention to three video presentations: One “day in the life” of Leo, one featuring senior podcaster Kaleb Larry, and one that followed Dr. Stankiewicz down memory lane as he visited and reminisced about the block he grew up on at 82nd and Elizabeth. Both he and Fr. Pfleger cited Leo’s value as a school of opportunity for young men coming from disadvantaged backgrounds.
After Principal Shaka Rawls led a “Leo Now” panel with seniors Larry, Kam’ron Dove, Keith Smith and Aiden Lott, junior Derrick Davis and recent graduate Damari Owens, ”Leo then” was the topic for a panel featuring previous honorees Bill Conlon ’63, Bob Sheehy ’71, Mike Holmes ’76, Joe Power ’70 and Ray Siegel ’65. Andy McKenna ’47 and Tom Owens ’54 are deceased, and Gen. William Walker ’75 lives out of state.
Finally, Dr. Stankiewicz joined the previous honorees on stage for the presentation of the distinctive Leo letter sweater. There are only 10 in existence; they belong to the nine Andy McKenna Legacy Award honorees and to Mrs. LaDonna Hill, whose masterful work as Leo’s Choir Director merited her inclusion among the sweater-wearers.
After he slipped into his sweater, Dr. Stankiewicz expressed appreciation for the award, and for a Leo experience that he is sure helped him get off to a good start in life.