Les Hoveln graduated from St. Joseph-Ogden in 1980 after being born and raised in Royal by Harold and Darlene Hoveln.
This Friday he will be inducted into the high school’s Hall of Fame.
“There have been a lot of great athletes that have gone thru SJO so to be nominated for this award is truly an honor and a blessing,” Hoveln said.
Despite being modest about his accomplishments at SJO, Hoveln is one of the great athletes that have passed through SJO.
He has 10 varsity letters from SJO including four in baseball, three in football and three in basketball.
He was an Okaw Valley All-Conference Selection in football and baseball, co-captain in football, baseball and basketball, Team MVP in baseball and nominated for All-State in baseball.
“I would have to say that the personal relationships I made with my fellow classmates, teammates and coaches is something that I will always remember and cherish,” Hoveln said.
HIs athletic career continued at Parkland where he was a two year starter for the baseball team where he had a .358 batting average and was named to the Central Illinois Athletic Conference First team and the NJCAA All-Star team.
At Illinois State he was a letter winner in baseball.
Hoveln has an associates degree in agriculture from Parkland and a bachelor’s degree in Agri-Business from Illinois State University.
Hoveln, who has been in banking for 34 years, currently works as community president and chief lending officer at Gifford State Bank. He is a member of the Illinois Bankers Association and a part-time farmer.
Hoveln has been a member of the SJO golf committee for 18 years and was co-chair from 2010-2017. He served on the SJO Board of Education for 12 years and was president from 2011 to 2013 and he was awarded the SJO Friend of Education Award in 2018.
Hoveln’s wife Lori is also an SJO graduate from the class of 1980 and they have been married 33 years.
They have twin sons Alex and Blake who graduated from SJO in 2012.
Hoveln said the biggest lesson he learned at SJO is that if you want something you have to work for it.
“Nobody’s going to just hand it to you,” he said.
