YSU to honor Tressel, Leonardi with Heritage Award at dinner

Faculty, staff, retiree and service awards will be presented at the dinner, which is held annually.

staff report

YOUNGSTOWN —Former head football coach Jim Tressel and the late Anthony S. Leonardi, a longtime member of the faculty at the Dana School of Music, will be honored with the Heritage Award at Youngstown State University’s faculty and staff awards dinner at 6:30 p.m. Friday in the Chestnut Room of Kilcawley Center.

The university also will award professional/administrative staff Distinguished Service Awards to:

Jonelle Beatrice, Student Life.

Amy L. Cossentino, University Scholars and Honors Programs.

Karen L. Henning, Beeghly College of Education.

Karla Krodel, Metro Credit Educational Outreach.

Richard E. Mahan, Criminal Justice.

Marilyn A. O’Bruba, Athletics.

Jeffrey A. Trimble, Maag Library.

Robert D. Tupaj, Marketing and Communications.

Mary Lou Weingart, College of Fine and Performing Arts.

John Young, Kilcawley Center.

Retiree and service awards also will be presented. The Heritage Award is among the highest honors bestowed by YSU.

Tressel was appointed YSU’s head football coach in 1986. A native of Mentor, Tressel graduated from Baldwin Wallace College with a bachelor’s degree in education and earned a master’s degree in education from the University of Akron. He coached and taught at the University of Akron, Miami University (Ohio), Syracuse University and Ohio State University before coming to YSU. Under Tressel’s guidance, the Penguins won NCAA Division I-AA national championships in 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1997. He compiled an overall record of 135-57-2 and was a four-time pick as the Division I-AA National Coach of the Year. He left YSU to take the head coaching position at Ohio State in 2001. Tressel also was involved in the Youngstown community, working extensively with Ronald McDonald’s Children’s Charities and the Salvation Army.

Leonardi, who died in 2001, served on the faculty of YSU’s Dana School of Music for 22 years, teaching classical string bass and jazz studies, before retiring as professor of music in May 2001. Leonardi grew up in Syracuse, N.Y., served in the military and attended Ithaca College in New York before launching his music career. From 1958 to 1968, he played in theater restaurants in New York for stars such as Nat King Cole, Sammy Davis Jr. and Tony Bennett. In 1968, he enrolled in the Dana School of Music and earned a bachelor’s and master’s of music. Before joining the YSU faculty in 1979, he was band director at Poland Junior High and Canfield Middle schools. He was the first coordinator of Jazz Studies at YSU. Under his leadership, the YSU Jazz Ensemble earned numerous honors and made several recordings.