Leopold to be formally inducted into Museum of Gulf Coast

Published 1:39 pm Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Bobby Leopold already has a football portrait and biography in the Museum of the Gulf Coast. He just has never been formally inducted into the museum’s Sports Hall of Fame.

That will change Saturday.

The museum announced that Leopold, a Lincoln High graduate who spent seven seasons as a professional linebacker, will be formally inducted during a pregame ceremony before the 4 p.m. kickoff of Port Arthur Memorial’s home game against Lumberton at Memorial Stadium.

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Leopold, an economics teacher at Memorial, graduated from Lincoln in 1976 and played on Notre Dame’s 1977 national championship team that upset the University of Texas in the Cotton Bowl. He reunited with Notre Dame teammate Joe Montana when the San Francisco 49ers drafted him in the eighth round (210th pick overall) in 1980, and the pair won a Super Bowl together in the 1981 season.

Leopold spent four seasons with the Niners before joining the New Jersey Generals in the defunct United States Football League for two years. He played his final season with the Green Bay Packers.

Leopold is one of nine Port Arthur ISD graduates who have played in a Super Bowl. Jonathan Babineaux of the Atlanta Falcons and Elandon Roberts of the New England Patriots, who played in February’s Super Bowl 51 in Houston, are the most recent additions to the list.

— I.C. Murrell

About I.C. Murrell

I.C. Murrell was promoted to editor of The News, effective Oct. 14, 2019. He previously served as sports editor since August 2015 and has won or shared eight first-place awards from state newspaper associations and corporations. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, grew up mostly in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and graduated from the University of Arkansas at Monticello.

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