The Stanley Brown Associate Member Distinguished Service Award is presented to an associate member employee who has helped make the industry more professional, is known for outstanding association service and has been a loyal supporter of ALCC and Colorado’s landscape industry. This year’s recipient is Leo Degenstein with the LL Johnson Distributing Company.

Degenstein grew up in North Dakota, attending a trade school and Minot State College. He got a taste for equipment while at the trade school, where he repaired small gas engines, motorcycles and snowmobiles. After graduating Minot State, he visited a friend in Denver and made it his home.

He started at F. Geist Landscape Maintenance as their mechanic in 1980 and was introduced to ALCC in 1982 when his company had a booth at the ALCC Equipment Show—now ProGreen EXPO. After a stint of self-employment, he worked at McGuckins Power Equipment. When the company took on the Toro Dingo line in 1998, Degenstein became a Dingo rep and has been one ever since.

He joined the LL Johnson Distributing Company in 2000 and has continued to pioneer the Dingo brand, earning the Toro Master Salesman Award twice. He came to be known as the “Dingo man.” Degenstein has volunteered his time, knowledge and Dingo equipment to ALCC in a variety of ways. These include being a hands-on judge for certification, serving on Day of Service projects, supporting teachers training on equipment for Landscape Career Pathways power equipment training and helping with irrigation boot camp.

Read more in this issue of Colorado Green NOW:
In memoriam: Bill "Smitty" Smith
In memoriam: Bill Whittaker
Quarantine leads Coloradans to look for landscape improvements
Workplace safety is more important than ever