The Bob Leach Leadership Award
The Bob Leach Leadership Award recognizes a player who is a leader on the team and is named after former Ferris State head coach Bob Leach, who guided the school's unbeaten 1968 team.
Leach coached Ferris' first unbeaten team as the 1968 Bulldogs went 7-0-1. He took over a program that was 1-26-2 in the three seasons prior to his arrival and led the Bulldogs to an NAIA 17th place national ranking in 1968. Leach was chosen as Michigan's Coach-of-the-Year in 1968 as well as NAIA Midwest Region Coach-of-the-Year.
The Flint native then departed to become the defensive line coach for the NFL's St. Louis Cardinals from 1971-72. He returned to Ferris in 1973 and served as an executive administrator in the alumni and development areas for the next 20 years until retiring in 1995.
He was a member of Flint Central High School's Class A State Championship football team and coached at his alma mater from 1958-66. He also was a member of the University of Michigan's National Championship baseball team in 1953.
Leach was inducted into the Greater Flint Area Sports Hall of Fame in 1990 and into the Mecosta County Sports Hall of Fame in 1985.