Leo Burger graduated from Iola High School in 1926, with his place in school lore already secure.
As a multi-sport standout athlete, Burger was a key performer in the 1925 Mustangs’ first-ever undefeated football season, which included wins over Lawrence, Chanute and Pittsburg.
He was declared at the time “one of the most capable athletes Iola has ever produced,” as he took his talents to the college ranks, first as team captain of the Iola Junior College football team, then at Washburn University.
Turns out his prodigious athletic ability paled in comparison to his skills as a teacher.
He taught PE and coached at Alma before returning to his native Iola in 1940, where for 27 of the next 29 years, he taught math, economics and psychology at both IHS and Iola Junior College (when it was still located on the high school’s third floor.)
He also shined in the coaching box. Burger still ranks as the second winningest football coach in school history. He recorded four winning seasons and guided the Mustangs to the Southeast Kansas League title in 1947.
His basketball teams were even better.
Under Burger, the Mustang cagers won four straight SEK titles from 1946 SEK league title in 1949, and took third in the state tournament that year, completing a remarkable four-year stint in which Iola won four straight substate tournaments.
He gave up coaching a few years later — staying on as the school’s athletic director — where Burger continued to make an impact on youngsters, and his teaching colleagues alike.
And nobody realized it at the time, but Burger also spawned quite a coaching tree.
Under Burger’s tutelage, another legendary IHS athlete-turn-educator in Don Bain also developed a love of education and mentoring others.
It was Burger who hired Bain to return to his alma mater.
The same Don Bain who became a beloved coach, teacher and administrator at Iola High School.
The same Don Bain after whom the school district no long ago named its newly established Hall of Fame in his honor.
And it’s the Don Bain Hall of Fame that will enter its newest inductee on Friday — Leo Burger.
NOT LONG after bringing Bain into the fold, Burger unknowingly put in motion a series of events that reshaped Iola athletics for generations.
