Youngwood man instrumental in building soccer program
Laurence Robert Leggett will always be remembered as the grandfather of Hempfield Township's soccer program.
"The program was just in its infancy when he started here 21 years ago. He developed the soccer fields and programs into what they are today ... with several hundred children participating each year," said Cheryl Kemerer, director of the township's Department of Parks and Recreation.
Mr. Leggett's impact was so dynamic that when the township constructs a new regulation-size soccer field next year in Swede Hill Park, off Willow Crossing Road, it will be named Leggett Soccer Field.
Mr. Leggett, 48, of Youngwood, died Sunday, Dec. 9, 2001, in his home after battling cancer. He was born Oct. 22, 1953, in Elizabeth, N.J., a son of Charles H. Leggett of North Huntingdon Township and Ann (Fish) Leggett of New Stanton.
The 1971 graduate of Hempfield Area High School went on to study therapeutic recreation and education at Pennsylvania State University, where he graduated in 1976.
"He worked full time through college ... taking jobs at the recreation center in State College and anywhere he could," said his wife, Heather Kerchner Leggett.
After graduating from Penn State, Mr. Leggett began working at a state hospital, then moved on to Westmoreland Manor, where he worked for 10 years. He was hired as superintendent of sports for Hempfield Township in October 1980.
"Larry worked that summer for the township recreation program and they liked him, and he stayed there for 21 years. He always said no matter who was supervisor it didn't matter ... you kept politics out of it," Heather Leggett said.
In the early 1980s, Mr. Leggett was in the former Mother's Pizza restaurant in Youngwood when he met a young woman softball player there who was celebrating a victory with teammates. He and the former Heather Kerchner, who was attending Westmoreland County Community College, began dating. They were married in 1985.
"He was the sweetest, kindest person you'd ever want to meet. His family always came first," Heather Leggett said.
Leggett's four children all participated in sports, including their father's favorite, soccer.
"Our daughter, Terri, didn't like participating on the boys' soccer teams, so he began a separate girls' soccer program," she said.
But Mrs. Leggett said the program that her husband most relished was coordinating the township's TOPS Soccer Program for special needs children.
"Some of those children are on crutches and walkers and no matter what, Larry always told my sons who helped him, "It doesn't matter, we'll make it work'," Heather Leggett said.
"He always said coordinating the soccer programs for those challenged children was his stress-breaker," she said.
In addition to his job as superintendent of sports for the township, Mr. Leggett was a certified FIFA and PIAA official for soccer and a past member of the New Stanton Fire Department, where he annually ran the Easter Egg Hunt for area children.
He attended St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Youngwood.
In addition to his parents, Mr. Leggett is survived by his wife, Heather; a daughter, Terri Heather Shawley Hassinger and her husband, Robert, of Virginia Beach, Va.; three sons, Jeremy Shawley and Jonathan and Jacob Leggett, all at home; two grandchildren, Kyle and Bret; a brother, David Leggett, and his wife, Karen, and a sister, Kathy Blackburn, all of Sarasota, Fla.
Friends will be received from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday at the C. Richard McCauley Funeral Home Inc., Youngwood, with additional viewing from 11 to 11:30 a.m. Thursday, the time of service in St. Luke's Lutheran Church. The Rev. Theodore Bessey will officiate.
