Leonard Goodall was born in Warrensburg, Missouri on March 15, 1937. After high school he attended Central Missouri State College. He earned his master's at the University of Missouri and attended the University of Illinois for his doctorate in political science. After college, he taught at Arizona State University in the Political Science department. He then moved to the Univesity of Ilinois, Chicago starting out as an instructor, but eventually becoming a chancellor at the unviersity.