Leroy Pond was born in Fayetteville, Washington County, Arkansas, on June 6, 1918, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Pond. He graduated from Fayetteville High School in 1933 and received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Arkansas in 1938. He entered the United States Army prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Pond served in the 1st Battalion, 359th Regiment of the 90th Infantry Division of the United States Army and quickly became one of the most respected officers in the Army in World War II, with some comparing him to General George Patton. Pond participated in the D-Day landings and within seven months became the most decorated war veteran ever of Washington County, receiving the Distinguished Cross, the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart and the French Croix de Guerre with Palm Leaf.

Pond was nicknamed “Fireball” for both the color of his hair and his strong personality. The University of Arkansas constructed a small camp (now demolished) at the bottom of the university to house all of the new war veterans who would become students, which was named in honor of Pond. Leroy Pond Drive, near Bud Walton Arena, on the University of Arkansas campus, is also named in honor of Pond. Captain Leroy Pond died on January 15, 1945, in a hospital in England from wounds received in Germany a month earlier.