Leon’s Lounge, a newly-created space for Arkansas Tech University football players inside the Hull Physical Education Building, will be dedicated before the Wonder Boys’ first home football game of the season on Saturday, Sept. 9.
The dedication will begin at 5 p.m. in Leon’s Lounge, which is located adjacent to the football offices in the Hull Building. The public is invited to attend.
ATU alumnus Jamie Sorrells of Russellville provided the lead gift in a fund-raising project to establish the space. Enhancements include new flooring, seating areas, televisions, gaming consoles and computers.
The players’ lounge is named for Leon Anderson, who played football at Arkansas Tech from 1965-68, was the starting quarterback on the Wonder Boys’ 1968 Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference championship team and served as head football coach at ATU from 1976-79. Anderson has remained a fan of and supporter of Arkansas Tech athletics during his more than 40-year career in the insurance business.
“As you look back, you find people who had a big influence on turning points in your life,” said Sorrells at the time his gift was announced. “In the spring of my senior year in high school, Leon offered me an opportunity to walk on at Arkansas Tech and play football. I didn’t know if I was going to college or not, so that gave me the motivation to go. By the end of the first semester, he’d offered me a full scholarship that paid my way through school and set the foundation for my life. I got in the oil and gas business through a friend on the football team and ended up meeting my wife as part of that business. I look back and ask ‘how did that all happen?’ It’s because Leon Anderson gave me an opportunity and the encouragement to make the most of it.”
Anderson will be inducted into the ATU Athletics Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2023 during a banquet at Tucker Coliseum on Friday, Sept. 15. Tickets for the banquet are available at www.arkansastechsports.com/HOFTickets.
Those who wish to financially support the further development of Leon’s Lounge for the benefit of the ATU football program may do so at www.atualumni.com/leonslounge or by calling (479) 968-0400.
