Johnny Leonard

You wowed ’em at the track, Johnny Leonard, but it’s your accomplishments as a sire and a progenitor of the breed that earned you a corner in this hallowed hall.

A son of Hall of Famer Mixed Harmony, you were born on the 4th of July in 1951, and were a godsend of Jack Roche, who paid a mere $125 for you when you were a pup. You were “very friendly,” says Jack, who named you after one of his grandsons.

Thanks to the $5,000 you won in the Phoenix Open, Jack was able to make a down payment on some Oregon land he’d wanted where he built his home and the farm of his dreams. You also captured the 1953 Taunton Inaugural, the Gold Collar at Miami Beach, and the Phoenix. Track title with 13 wins in 15 starts. Your career record was an admirable 58-37-25 in 150 starts.

But your real contribution to the sport came as a sire dog. It was you who sired Kinto Nebo, the female many consider the greatest brood matron ever. Through her descendants alone, you appear behind thousands of the Greyhounds of today. Nearly every champion Greyhound of this era boasts of you as an ancestor–some of them two or three times.

What makes your contribution all the more remarkable is that you were bred to relatively few females during your stud career.

A greyhound of class that has vastly improved the breed that was Johnny Leonard.