Evergreen Park's Gene Earner Honored by Leo High School

If Saint Patrick ever hires a party planner, “The King of Saint Patrick’s Day Fundraisers” - Leo High School’s very own Gene Earner - will be shortlisted among preferred vendors.

For six decades, Eugene “Gene” Earner has placed only family and Leo above community. The result has been a lifetime of clever initiatives that earn the Evergreen Park resident Leo’s 2019 Alumni Award for Community Service on Chicago’s South Side. Earner will be awarded along with inductees to Leo’s Hall of Fame.

Earner will be honored Friday, April 26, 2019 at the Leo Alumni Association’s 64th annual Spring Banquet. The affair will again be held at Chateau Del Mar, Hickory Hills Country Club, located at 8301 West 95th Street, Hickory Hills, IL.

In 2015, St. Margaret of Scotland Parish and School Community celebrated its 140th anniversary of Catholic dedication to faith, tradition, service and excellence with Eugene Earner as the Man of the Year. That September night, the parish hailed Gene for helping raise more than $500,000 orchestrating the “The Saint Patrick’s Party Reunion Fundraiser” which gained legendary status for its attendance and monies raised to help Father Daniel Mallette keep his parish thriving on 99th Street.

As the “Go-To” guy at Most Holy Redeemer Parish in Evergreen Park, Earner put his organizational skills to use, again, running Saint Patrick’s Day fundraisers while coaching basketball and serving as president of both the Southwest Conference for grammar schools and the Athletic Association.

Earner’s attention to detail impacted thousands of young lives at the grade school level and filled uniforms at the high school level for years.

The 1950 graduate never neglected his beloved Leo. He returned to become the “Voice of Leo” as the field announcer for football and timekeeper for basketball. For a stretch, Earner’s own granddaughters filled a void and served as junior cheerleaders, suited up in orange and black for football and basketball.

Earner measures his wealth the way the Bible taught: “good deeds will last forever.”

The 88 year-old is proud of the path that brings him into a familiar spotlight with his fellow Leo men. While all of his 12 children graduated from Catholic schools, six sons are Leo graduates. This is Gene’s fourth award, having been called to the Leo Hall of Fame, named Leo Man of the Year and honored with Leo Lifetime Achievement Award.

Said son Jim Earner, who works at Leo: “Our dad’s devotion to service of both church and family motivated him to always look for ways to give back and say ‘Thank You’ to these schools he attended.”

According to his sons, the trait that impressed them the most was his work ethic. For more than 20 years, Earner worked a physically demanding job delivering soft drinks for the A.J. Canfield Beverage Co., many times logging 80 hours a week or more just to provide the best for his wife and twelve children.

“There was never a question of cutting back on education when money was tight,” said Jim, one of 12 Earner children, who all graduated from Catholic grade schools and high school. “It’s a truly amazing accomplishment.”

The Leo Alumni Association’s 64th annual Spring Banquet is April 26, 2019. The banquet will again be held at Chateau Del Mar, Hickory Hills Country Club, located at 8301 95th Street, Hickory Hills, IL. Ticket prices are $70.00 in advance and $80.00 at the door. The cocktail hour will begin at 6:30 pm, and the dinner service is scheduled at 7:30 pm. The Leo Alumni Association was formed for charitable and educational purposes to promote the best interests of Leo High School, as well as to foster a spirit of loyalty and fraternity among Leo Alumni.