Bio

Leroy Wescovich

Perkinston Agricultural High School & Junior College (1956-1957) / Tennis, Basketball, Baseball
Delisle, Mississippi

Former coach Mel Carpenter says Leroy Wescovich “had it all!” One look at his life and his athletic resume, and it’s obvious Carpenter has a point.

Before setting records and winning championships at Perk, the Delisle native was Mr. Everything at Pass Christian High School — All-District honors in basketball, football and baseball, Mr. Pass High, and a high-school All-American. That led him to Spring Hill College in Mobile, Ala., where he attended school on an athletic scholarship.

“I wasn’t much of a student at Spring Hill,” Wescovich said. But in 1956, he transferred to Perkinston Junior College, where he did more in a year than some do in a lifetime.

“At Perk, I really started to become a student,” he said. “It carried over for the rest of my career.”

But his athletic achievements also continued to grow. While at Perk, Wescovich was a multi-talented athlete. He was co-captain of the 1956-57 basketball team that was No. 2 in the nation in scoring. It was also the last Perk team to play in the Old Gym, and the first team coached by Mel Carpenter.

“He made coaching a pleasure,” Carpenter said. “That was my first year on the job, and Leroy and many other fine athletes at Perk helped me begin my career.”

On the baseball diamond, Wescovich played third base on the 1957 Mississippi Association of Junior Colleges championship team. That squad finished second in the South Division after losing to Hinds 3-1. However, the Eagles were disqualified from the state tournament, leaving the door wide open for Perk to claim that title. The Bulldogs did just that, as they defeated Itawamba 9-7 for the state crown.

“I always felt like our second team was as good as our first team,” he said. “That’s why we were able to win the state championship.”

During that same spring, Wescovich also earned a Mississippi Association of Junior Colleges doubles tennis title.

While he excelled competing on the field, his true calling would come thanks for coaching.

“I went into the Army for two years after Perk,” Wescovich said. “It was while I was in the service that I started to enjoy teaching. I taught a map-reading class, and I enjoyed it. I knew that if I got a degree that I enjoy teaching.”

So that’s what he did. Wescovich finished college at William Carey after serving his time in the U.S. Army. From there, he was hired to coach baseball and basketball at Petal High School.

“In the three years I coached at Petal, we had some outstanding teams,” he said.

Later, a coach he knew at Lutcher High School in Louisiana asked Wescovich to interview for a coaching position there. He got the job, and the rest, they say, is history. He spent 28 years at Lutcher, winning more than 200 basketball games, earning four district titles and seven district coach of the year awards. As a baseball coach, he won more than 100 games and six seasons, with one team winning a state title with another team finishing second and four district crowns. His 17-year run as head tennis coach featured 260 wins, 15 appearances in the state tournament, and 13 trips to the state finals, where three of his players took top honors. He was also an assistant football coach at Lutcher for 28 years. Those teams won 210 games, two state championships and made another trip to the state finals.

Add it all up, including his role as an assistant, and Wescovich was a part of 781 victories in high school.

Is it any wonder that Lutcher’s tennis complex is named in his honor? “The years spent at Lutcher have been most rewarding,” he said. “But I’ll always remember Perk, because it will always be a great part of me.”