Youngstown State University and the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics are proud to announce the Officer Justin A. Leo ‘324’ Memorial Scholarship for Student Athletes in Criminal Justice to enhance the YSU Athletics Scholarship Endowment Fund.
The scholarship honors the memory of Police Officer Justin A. Leo who was killed in the line of duty in October 2017.
This scholarship was established in 2019 by David and Patricia Leo. Justin Leo was a 2017 graduate of Youngstown State University and a 2009 graduate of the YSU Police Academy. He was a member of the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Department, the Vienna Police Department and the city of Girard Police Department.
Justin was a 2004 graduate of Girard High School and a member of their state champion cross country team in 2000. The Leo family is proud to support a student-athlete in Justin’s name, as they compete on the field and in the classroom. His memory lives on in the hearts and minds of the Youngstown State University Athletic Department. As our student-athletes strive for excellence they do so with the same courage, integrity and honor that Justin so greatly served with.
Preference for the scholarship will be given to a student-athlete majoring in criminal justice, a Girard High School graduate, second preference goes to an athlete from Trumbull and Mahoning County.
Paul McFadden, President of the YSU Foundation, said this Memorial Scholarship is meaningful for the entire Athletic Department, University and community.
“We are privileged to salute the memory of Officer Justin A. Leo with another scholarship endowment,” McFadden said. “The outpouring of community support for him still has been tremendous. Officer Leo took great pride in being a Police Office and was a very community-oriented person. It’s an honor to have an additional scholarship endowment in his name.”
The 2019-20 recipient of the scholarship endowment is softball student-athlete Kayla Rutherford. Rutherford is a sophomore who attended Cardinal Mooney High School and is majoring in Criminal Justice at YSU. The Leo Family was honored at during the YSU Men’s Basketball game against North Carolina Central in November. The family, along with officers from the Youngstown State Police Department, received a standing ovation.
Previously, in the fall of 2018, the Officer Justin A. Leo ‘324’ Memorial Scholarship in Athletics was established.
For more information, or to endow an athletic scholarship at Youngstown State University, contact Dan Kopp at the YSU Foundation at (330) 941-3211 or dkopp@ysufoundation.org
