Sacred Heart-Griffin High School will present "Football Legends: Life Lessons," with featured speakers Dave Casper, Steve Sylvester and Ken Leonard on Thursday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. in the SHG Springfield Dominican Hall Theatre, 1200 West Washington.
Tickets for the event, emceed by Springfield broadcaster Sam Madonia, are $10 each and only 400 will be sold. Tickets may be purchased online at www.shg.org or at the school with cash or check. Proceeds of the event will benefit Catholic Athletes for Christ and the Our Lady of Nazareth Club at SHG.
Dave "The Ghost" Casper is a 1974 graduate of the University of Notre Dame. He was an All-American captain of the Irish 1973 national championship team under the legendary Ara Parseghian that finished 11-0. A cum laude graduate in economics, Casper was the second round draft pick in 1974 by the Oakland Raiders where he spent seven and a half years. He was selected to five Pro Bowls during his career and won Super Bowl XI with the Raiders. Casper was named to the 1970s NFL All Decade team, Sports Illustrated Silver Anniversary Super Bowl Dream team and was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2002. He currently lives in Minnesota.
Steve "Syl" Sylvester is a 1975 graduate of Notre Dame and also played on the '73 national championship team under Parseghian. Sylvester was a 1975 draft pick by Oakland where he played for nine seasons, 106 games, winning three Super Bowls with the Raiders in 1977, 1981 and 1984. He currently lives in Cincinnati.
Ken Leonard began his coaching career at Chenoa, later becoming the head coach at Gridley. In 1984, Leonard became the head football coach at Griffin High School (later SHG). He was named the 2006 National Coach of the Year. Also in 2006, he was inducted into the Illinois High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame. Leonard was most recently selected to coach in the prestigious Army All State game in San Antonio. During his tenure at SHG, Leonard has had a record of 306-58 which is a .841 winning percentage. His teams have won five Illinois State Football championships and have finished second place twice.
For more information contact Bob Brenneisen at or Bill Moredock at or call SHG at (217) 787-1595.