Irl. F. Engelhardt
Chairman
Peabody Energy
Laureate 2006
The path of Irl Engelhardt’s life was shaped by events when he was a child in a small farming and coal mining community in Illinois. One of his earliest memories was an Illinois State Trooper coming to their door to tell his mother that his dad would not be coming home. He had been killed in an accident on the road. His mother was left with four small children to raise and no income. It changed his world… and it changed his future. He learned that hard work at a young age makes one stronger. Irl helped out on his uncle’s farm as a youth and worked multiple jobs to pay his way through college at the University of Illinois and graduate school at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. Early on, he found that education gave him the freedom to chart a successful course in life. As Irl charted his course through education, he also balanced academics and athletics. Although basketball was his passion, the need to work to help meet the family’s financial needs was the priority. Playing basketball whenever he could, he found that sports offer extremely valuable lessons for life - confidence, teamwork, strategy, execution, high expectations and sacrifices. If one asks Irl how he made it from a small house in Pinckneyville, Ill., to the chairman’s office of Peabody Energy, the world’s largest coal company, Irl replies it is a combination of hard work and treating people with respect. The key consisted of looking for players who think “teamfirst”; players who invest in themselves through training and hard practice; players with winning attitudes; and players who are honest and respectful. Those are the winning ways of leaders… and those are the winning ways of Irl.
Select a button below to see how you or your organization can get involved with Junior Achievement of Greater St. Louis, Inc..
Donate Volunteer Request A Program