| Overall UK Wins: 2 | Overall UK Losses: 0 | Win % 100 |
Date of Birth: May 18, 1914
Date of Death: January 2, 1987
Hometown: Cincinnati, OH
Alma Mater: Xavier [1936]
Notes: Faced Kentucky as a Xavier player

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Obituary - Cincinnati Enquirer (January 4, 1987)

Leo Paul Sack, local Athlete

He played sports at Purcell, Xavier and professionally

Leo Paul Sack, 72, an outstanding athlete at the high school, college and professional level in football and basketball, died Friday at Good Samaritan Hospital.

For more than 40 years, Mr. Sack, nicknamed "Gunny," combined a brilliant career in athletics as a player, assistant coach, referee, with work as an agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and an insurance executive.

"Lee (a family nickname) was much loved by family and friends. He will be remembered as a very caring person who would go out of his way to help others," his step-daughter, Mary Donovan, said.

He retired in 1979 from the Western Southern Insurance Co., as an employee relations administrator.

Mr. Sack was an all-around athlete at Purcell High School. He was quarterback on the Cavalier football team for two years, and was a basketball forward three years.

He was on the swimming team as a senior and ran in four events on the track team. He held the school broad jump and shot put record for many years.

He received three letters in basketball and football.

At Xavier University he was a quarterback in football and a co-captain in football and basketball. He was a standout in the 193 football victory of XU over Indiana University.

Mr. Sack went on to play professionally in football and basketball. he played for the old Cincinnati Model Shoes Team in football and for the London Bobbys Basketball team, both were members in the Midwest Professional League.

He was an assistant football coach at XU from 1938-41. He also worked as a referee in the Mid-America Conference in basketball and football.

Mr. Sack was an FBI agent from 1944-49. He was an insurance agent for the Commonwealth Insurance Co., Cincinnati from 1949-52, and a personnel and business manager for the Peoria Livestock Co., Peoria Ill. from 1952-62.

From 1962 to 79, Mr. Sack was with the Western Southern Insurance Co.

In 1935, Mr. Sack received the Legion of Honor at XU, the highest honor an athlete can win at the university. He was a charter member of the XU Hall of Fame, chairman of XU's first Jamboree, director of the XU Musketeers Club, a member of the Board of Governors of the XU Alumni, a director of the Fenwick Athletic Club, a past president of the Purcell Alumni Association, and a member of the men of Milford Catholic Retreat League.

In 1970, Mr. Sack was elected to the XU Basketball Hall of Fame and in 1980 was inducted into Buddy LaRosa's Hamilton County High School Sports Hall of Fame.

Survivors include two sons, Michael L. and John M. Sack, both of Peoria, Ill.; a sister, Mrs. Loraine Horan Groark, Santa Maria, Calif.; two stepdaughters, Mary Dee Donovan and Nan Donovan Conlan, Cincinnati; four stepsons, C. Patrick Donovan, Timothy E. Donovan, Terrence J. Donovan, all of Cincinnati, and Michael D. Donovan, Greensboro, N.C.; and 20 grandchildren.

Mr. Sack was preceded in death by two wives, Mrs. Kathryn Mullen Sack and Dolores McCarthy Donovan.

Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Rose Catholic Church, 2501 Eastern Ave.,, East End. Visitation will be from 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday at the Gilligan Funeral Home, 2926 Woodburn Ave., Walnut Hills. Burial will be in the Gate of Heaven Cemetery, 11000 Montgomery Road, Symmes Township. Memorials may be sent to the Heat Fund.

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