It was the love for athletics he developed during his years as a student at Anita High School that has led Bud Legg to a Hall of Fame career as a teacher, coach, official and an administrator both at the high school level and with the Iowa High School Athletic Association.
Bud was a good athlete at Anita, qualifying for the state track meet as well as winning letters in football and basketball. He was an even better coach and administrator at Oakland, South Hamilton and Ames High Schools.
He is in the Iowa Girls Coaches Association, Softball Coaches Hall of Fame and the IHSAA Officials Hall of Fame. He coached the South Hamilton Girls softball team to the state tournament 7 times, earning one title, 2 runner-up finishes and two fifth place finishes. His South Hamilton track teams won 4 district titles. He coached South Hamilton and Ames girls basketball teams to the state tournament and was an assistant on the Ames Boys Basketball staff that won the 1991 state title.
As an official, Bud worked the state football playoffs for 15 years, Iowa Conference football 14 years including the Division 3 playoffs 3 times and 8 state softball tournaments, which included 4 championship games.
In 2010 the IATC decided to name a “Service Award” winner in honor of one of its founding members, Laverne Kloster. The award criteria are based on service and commitment to track and field and/or cross country.
As much as Bud Legg has been involved in many sports at many levels during his career, it is his love for track and field and his dedication to our sport that we honor him this afternoon.
Bud is a stickler for detail and it is this desire for perfection that led to his developing and maintaining the All Time Best lists, by event, for Iowa High School Boys track. This project proved to be invaluable when Bud became the Information Director at the Boys Association 11 years ago.
Bud has updated everything pertaining to track and field in the Association annals and on their website. This is invaluable information for all of us. We need an accurate history.
Bud has not missed a Drake Relays since attending with his brother in 1959. In 1972 he hooked up with Mike Henderson, of the Girls Union, and has been a fixture in the Relays press box ever since.
Bud is my right hand man in the booth at both the Drake Relays and the State meet. He is constantly supplying me with trivia, records, splits, best performances, rankings etc. In the years we have worked together, I have never heard him say a bad word about a coach or an athlete.
Bud seems to only see the best in people. IATC Hall of Fame member, Deb Anderson, was a student athlete on Buds track teams at South Hamilton. When we were talking about the Hall of Fame selections at our IATC meeting last spring, I asked Deb, “What do you think makes Bud worthy of selection”? At that moment her eyes got rather wet, and she said, “Well, he is just a good guy”.
Bud and his wife Marge live in Ames. They have one daughter Anne, and 2 grandchildren.