Stand Out Athlete Strives For Success

Will Leonhardt Stay or Go?

By Brandon Miles

At 6’5” tall and weighing 250 pounds, Brian Leonhardt stands out in a crowd of students. His laid back demeanor is reminiscent of a gentle giant but his skills on the football field paint a different picture. Leonhardt earned academic all-conference in 2009 and both academic all conference and first team all conference tight end (football) in 2010. However, Leonhardt is not just confined to one sport.  He is also a very established track and field athlete, throwing both shot-put and discus and being all conference in both.

Brian Leonhardt Warms Up For Competiton
Photo by Brandon Miles

Leonhardt has proven his skill ranking among the top athletes in the NSIC for 2011. According to ncaa.com, Leonhardt is ranked 20^th in the nation at the discus throw which makes him eligible to compete in the national playoffs.

Brian Leonhardt
Photo Take by Brandon Miles

Although his motivation is high, Leonhardt seems to be at a cross-road in his collegiate career as the BSU men’s track team was recently cut for next season. This presents a major conflict for him as the number one reason he chose Bemidji was because of its lenience towards two-sport athletes. “I really feel bad for Brian and the team," said track coach Craig Hougen."Brian came to Bemidji specifically to play two sports, and now he can't."
Since track will be terminated for next year's season, Leonhardt has to decide if he wants to compete in track or football. He can choose to leave Bemidji to pursue his track career, or stay to finish football and education."The thought of transferring has not been the easiest decision," he said. “If this had happened freshman year it wouldn’t be that hard of a decision. But now I’ve established a really good group of friends, I have a girlfriend of almost two years now and transferring would most likely lose me credits.”

Originally from Spring Lake Park, Minn., Leonhardt was a three-sport athlete in high school. Track, football, and wrestling took up most of his time, and if he wasn’t in a sport, he could be found studying. “I was a bit of a bookworm in high school,” Leonhardt said. “All my friends would tease me, but I didn’t take offense to it because I knew they were all just kidding.”
Like all seniors in high school, the next step was to figure out where to go for college. Leonhardt's height and size got him a lot of attention from various athletic programs for both track and football. "Brian was a tough player to recruit," said BSU head coach Jeff Tesch. "Not only did he play two sports, but he was also being recruited by division one schools."
Everyone has their own reasons and motivations for picking a school and Leonhardt was no different. “I really thought about going to the U of M for a while,” he said, “but in the end I loved football and track and I wanted to continue doing both. That’s when I really started looking at Bemidji because they were one of the few schools who would let me do both sports.”
In the spring of 2008, Leonhardt signed at Bemidji State University as both a track and football athlete. Obviously, being a student athlete is very time consuming and being in two sports leaves Leonhardt with very little time to relax.  “Sometimes I get a little overwhelmed with both sports,” he said. “Obviously coaches from both sports want my full commitment and it’s very seasonal.”
When Leonhardt isn’t participating in football or track events, he spends a lot of his time in the library pursuing his degree in business. “Business management has always interested me," he said. "I want to be able to make good money and be my own boss, make my own hours.”
Clearly motivated and carrying a 3.76 G.P.A., he seems on his way; however, he doesn’t have everything figured out just yet. “I know I want to manage my own business but it’s not quite as simple as that," he said. "I realize that starting your own business is expensive and I’ll have to make a pretty substantial amount of money before I can pursue it on account of I don’t really want to take out loans to finance it.”