Kenton Leonard was born and raised in New Roads, Louisiana. At age twelve he was diagnosed with diabetes. While his doctors advised him against playing sports he defied their orders and played football in Grade 12 and succeeded in winning several scholarship offers. He chose to attend Nichol State University in Lousiana. After college he was drafted to play for the Calgary Stampeders where he had a very successful football career from 1990-1997 which included a Grey Cup win in 1992. During his career in the CFL Kenton did a lot of work with the Canadian Diabetes Association to raise money and awareness, and spoke to schools with students that were recently diagnosed with the disease.