Supporting both academics and athletics at Mississippi State University is something of a tradition in the Seal family. Twin brothers Leo III and Lee have recently reaffirmed their commitment to the cause, endowing a scholarship for students headed to Starkville from Harrison or Hancock counties.
The Seal Family Mississippi Gulf Coast Endowed Scholarship Program is meant to share what the Seals love most about their second home with those who also hail from the Mississippi Coast.
“We had discussed the possibility of this scholarship with Dr. Keenum many times,” Lee said. “We were in agreement that we didn’t want to lose students to any other university due to a scholarship issue.”
The twin brothers were students and football lettermen at Mississippi State in the late 1990s, graduating in 2000.
“We’re from Bay Saint Louis,” Lee said. “We went to high school there and lots of folks in our high school class went on to college, but not many of them came to Mississippi State. Most of the folks we attended St. Stanislaus with wound up at other colleges and universities in the region.
“Our scholarship is meant to fill in the gaps for students from the Gulf Coast if they are considering going to other schools for financial reasons,” he continued.
Lee and his brother are especially passionate because their own time at Mississippi State was so personally meaningful. The Seals have now been part of the Mississippi State family for four generations.
Their grandfather, Leo W. Seal Sr., was a 1911 graduate and two-year football letterman of what was then Mississippi A&M College. After serving in WWI, he returned to Hancock County and went to work for Hancock Bank, eventually rising to president. Leo W. Seal Jr. succeeded him in that role in 1963, after wrapping his time as a Bulldog football player around his own years of service in WWII.
The generosity of Leo W. Seal Jr. is responsible for the education of hundreds of young Mississippians. His philanthropy and leadership stand at the core of a family foundation that surrounds his legendary character.
The Seal family’s connection to Mississippi State spans more than a century. At upper left, Leo W. Seal Sr. (center), a 1911 graduate and two-year football letterman, built a legacy of leadership that began at Mississippi A&M and continued through his presidency at Hancock Bank. At lower right, his son Leo W. Seal Jr. and wife, Kathryn, celebrate the opening of the Leo W. Seal Family Business Complex with their twin sons, Leo III and Lee—continuing the family’s tradition of supporting academics and athletics at MSU.
Leo Jr. was a member of the freshman football team in 1942. In the wartime Army, he rose to the rank of sergeant and served his country for 40 months—20 in the U.S. and 20 in Europe. After the war, he was a tackle on the varsity teams of 1946-48. He graduated in 1949 with a degree in banking and finance and, in 1963, succeeded his father as president of the Gulfport-based Hancock Bank, holding that position for the next 45 years. In that time, he guided the growth of the business from a $14 million local operation to a $7 billion financial corporation.
He also grew his personal impact at MSU universitywide, supporting the Presidential Endowed Scholarship Program, as well as a broad variety of scholarships in business, engineering and forestry. His gifts founded an excellence fund for Mitchell Memorial Library and created the Leo Seal Family Business Complex, expanding the university’s business college and school of accountancy. Additionally, he was a major supporter of athletics, making gifts to establish facilities that anchor the university’s athletic programs today.
“Some of our earliest memories are of our dad bringing us to football games at Mississippi State,” Lee said. “He made sure we understood the responsibility we had to serve our community. His experiences of the Great Depression and WWII gave him a great passion for humanity and a respect for his fellow man. I know he would be proud of what Leo and I are doing now.
“Mississippi State has been a home for us. We wanted people from the Gulf Coast area to experience what we’ve experienced,” he continued. “We each went to school at Mississippi State, and we work to make our home communities and state better.”
By Kevin Tate, Photos by Grace Cockrell and from University Archives
