Leo Alum Dr. James Stankiewicz Named Andy McKenna Legacy Award Winner

South side native Dr. James Stankiewicz - a Leo Hall of Famer and graduate of Class of 1966 - -is the recipient of the 2024 Andy McKenna Leo Lions Legacy Award.

Stankiewicz will be honored at Leo’s ninth annual Scholarship Benefit on Wednesday, Dec. 4 at the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago downtown.

“I’m overwhelmed,” Jim said when notified of the honor. “Leo has played a very important role in my life. I’m very proud to support the work that’s being done at Leo today, and I’ll help in any way I can.”

Stankiewicz joins the late Andy McKenna ’47, Bill Conlon ’63, the late Tom Owens ’54, Bob Sheehy ’71, Mike Holmes ’76, Gen. William Walker ’75, Joe Power ’70 and Ray Siegel ’65 as McKenna Legacy Award honorees. Mr. McKenna, the first recipient, passed away in 2022, and the award was named in his honor last year.

“That’s a very distinguished list, and Jim belongs on it as a man who has always represented Leo with honor, pride and achievement,” Leo President Dan McGrath said.

On a recent visit to Leo, Stankiewicz invited McGrath to join him on a short trip to his boyhood home at 82nd and Elizabeth. Noting the street had lost its trees over the years, Stankiewicz directed McGrath’s attention north to the Saint Sabina Church and South side landmark.

“We couldn’t see our church and school back then because of all the trees, but I could run to school in about three minutes,” said Stankiewicz, while pointing and ticking off the names of all those who shared the block back in the 1960s.

“It was like a caravan walking down Elizabeth to school every morning,” said Stankiewicz, who also walked to Leo with classmates.

A 1962 graduate of St. Sabina, Stankiewicz was an honor-roll student and a starter on the Leo lightweight basketball team that won the Chicago Catholic League championship in 1966.

His history as a Leo supporter dates to 1968, during his undergraduate days at the University of Chicago, when he and some of his 1966 classmates raised money to fund a scholarship for a graduating Leo senior in honor of Coe Francis, an All-State quarterback from the Class of ’66 who died in a drowning accident before he was to begin his freshman year at the University of Illinois.

Ironically, the recipient of that scholarship was McGrath, who had lost his father a few years earlier, and has continues to this day to repay Leo with his leadership.

Among other contributions, Stankiewicz is the major funder today for a Class of ’66 Scholarship that goes to a Leo student-athlete who excels in the classroom as well as on the playing field.

“Jim is one of the most loyal and generous supporters we have,” McGrath said, “and has been since I started at Leo 15 years ago.”

Stankiewicz earned undergrad and medical degrees from the University of Chicago and did his internship and residency at University of Chicago Hospitals. He was on the faculty at the University of California-San Francisco while serving with the Navy in California, then joined Loyola University’s Stritch School of Medicine faculty in 1980 and remains a tenured professor.

One of the leading ear, nose and throat specialists in the country, Stankiewicz is the former chairman of the Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery Division at Loyola. He has contributed to more than 300 publications dealing with the subject and made more than 500 presentations nationally and internationally. He has performed more than 15,000 nasal and sinus procedures, including a memorable one on a friend of McGrath’s.

“Joe Goddard, a Sun-Times sportswriter, was referred to Jim regarding a sinus condition that was really debilitating – it affected his breathing, his energy, his lifestyle,” McGrath recalled. “Jim performed a procedure, and Joe was like a new man – he called me up to tell me my friend Dr. Stankiewicz was a miracle-worker.

“I was telling Jim about the conversation with Joe at the Alumni Banquet. While we were talking, two Leo alums came up to Jim and just raved about how the procedure he did changed their lives. Jim would scoff at the ‘miracle-worker’ label, but it’s pretty obvious he’s a great doctor and a great guy.”

Jim was inducted into the Leo Hall of Fame in 2013 and was named Alumni Association Man of the Year in 2023. He and Joanne, his wife of 50 years live in Orland Park and have four grown children and two grandchildren.

“Jim embodies the ‘Facta non Verba, Deeds not Words’ spirit of Leo,” McGrath said. “It’s our honor to honor him.”

Stankiewicz will be honored at Leo’s ninth annual Scholarship Benefit on Wednesday, Dec. 4 at the Four Seasons Downtown.

The evening begins with a cocktail reception, followed by dinner and program. Anchor/reporter Lourdes Duarte of WGN-Channel 9 will serve as MC, and the world-renowned Leo Choir will perform.

To learn more or order tickets contact Leo High School at 773/224-9600 or visit:
http://www.pjhchicago.com/events/leohighschool