The Road to Retirement

Taking a Look Back with Leo Peckenpaugh

Photo by Darrin Phegley

Leo Peckenpaugh is a well-known man in the community that has served in many capacities. Some know him as a teacher, some an administrator, some a broadcaster, and many as a friend. He is settling nicely into retirement, but he still has many stories left to tell.

Life as an Educator

Leo graduated from Western Kentucky University in 1974 in journalism with a minor in education. He attended on a sports scholarship but was injured in his first year. Despite this setback, he was able to continue playing football during the remainder of his time at WKU. Shortly after graduating, he took the sports editor job at the Gleaner. “I dabbled in three or four other professions until I landed in education,” said Leo. He served as a teacher in Henderson County for about twenty years, then became the Assistant Principal at the alternative school then the Assistant Principal at South Middle School. Leo retired seven years ago in 2014. 

When asked about his favorite part of working with students, I could hear the excitement in Leo’s voice. “The support that you can offer and the impact that you can make on them, whether it be in school or in life, I learned early on in education that the great teachers and administrators were the ones that always had time for students and took the extra time to get to know them, not only as a student, but as a young person. When you connect with them and ask questions like, you know, ‘how are you doing’ or ‘how’s it going at home’ then you’ve opened up a way that you can help kids in a lot of different ways. Let’s face it, in today’s society a lot of these kids have it tough at home, and if they know that they can come to you and that they’ll get an ear, then it’ll only help to make them more successful to talk about their personal life. It’s truly a rewarding career.” 

Life as a Broadcaster

Even though Leo had a long career in education, many people in the community know him better as a broadcaster. “To me, there’s nothing like game night, whether you’re broadcasting or playing,” Leo responded when asked about his favorite part of broadcasting. Leo broadcasted the Henderson County High School basketball games from 1976 to 2002 and enjoyed every minute of it. He was hired by WKU and IMG college to work as a sports analyst for the WKU football network. Last year was his 18th year in that position. Amazingly, Leo was able to find out exactly how many football games he broadcasted in this position-567. Leo’s favorite memories from broadcasting all relate to family. He was able to broadcast the state championship when his brother played and also  when his sons played, and he considers himself very fortunate for that chance.

Family First, Career Second

Leo’s life is defined by far more than just his careers in education and journalism. Leo also has a wife, Marietta, and three adult children. One son, Trey, works for a real estate company that leases property to shopping malls and used to live in New York before COVID-19 hit. Due to hardships because of the virus, Trey and his family, including a new baby, were forced to leave their home, but luckily, they found a new home in Leo’s house after he and his wife graciously took them in. They have since found a new place locally. His daughter, Lacey, owns a kids art school in New Jersey. She moved to college up north, “big-eyed and not sure what she wanted to do,” according to Leo, but found her purpose quickly and also met her would-be husband on her first day there. His youngest son, Wes, lives in Dallas, Texas and is in the same business as his brother but works for a different company. Leo says he’s very fortunate to have successful children. “All I can say is that they must have listened to their mother.” He also has four grandchildren that he loves deeply and expressed much gratitude for Marietta for always being there for him. 

Life After Retirement

Now that he is retired, Leo plans on helping Marietta in her business as a gardener. He plays a lot of golf and still keeps up with sports very well. “We aren’t really sit-on-the-couch type people, so we stay pretty busy.” He purchased season tickets to the WKU games and is very excited to see how those games turn out. He also plans on supporting the Poncho Club, a football club in Henderson that raises funds for all of the football teams. 

Leo summed up his life at the end of the interview- “I’m married to the prettiest girl in Henderson and they paid me to do something that a lot of people would have done for free. I’m a very fortunate person, I can tell you that much.” 

Thank you, Leo, for all the joy you’ve brought to Henderson!