June 17, 2005

By Pete LaFleur

The annual Monogram Club June meeting and awards dinner (held June 2, 2005, in the Joyce Center’s Sports Heritage Hall) included the introduction of six new members of the board of directors. Dr. Carol Lally Shields (basketball,’79), Barbara Mooney (softball, ’89), Dan Rahill (swimming, ’79), Frank Reynolds (football, ’59) and Jim Tyler (‘cross country/track, ’86) were approved to serve three-year terms on the Monogram Club from 2005-08 while Katie Neff (volleyball, ’04) has joined the board to fill the spot of Van Pearcy (to 2006). Pearcy recently rotated into the Monogram Club secretary spot, after Joe Restic was named second vice-president.

LALLY SHIELDS – who was presented an honorary doctorate of science degree at Notre Dame’s 2005 commencement ceremony – is the associate director of oncology service at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia, working alongside her husband Dr. Jerry Shields, the director of oncology service at Wills.

A world-renowned physician in her field, Lally earned her medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh (’83) and completed her residency in ophthalmology at Wills (’84-’87). The former leader of the Irish women’s basketball program is the author or co-author of five textbooks, some 700 articles in major journals and more than 140 textbook chapters. She was the first woman to receive the Donders Medal (in 2004), presented by the Netherlands Ophthalmologic Society every five years to an ophthalmologist of world fame and outstanding merit.

In her undergraduate days, Lally was the first female student-athlete to receive the Byron Kanaley Award for excellence in academics and leadership, the highest honor given to Notre Dame student-athletes.

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Carol Lally was the first female student-athlete ever to receive Notre Dame’s prestigious Byron Kanaley Award.

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Dr. Shields also has served as a consultant at the local Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia and Fox Chase Cancer Center, in addition to being a professor of ophthalmology at Thomas Jefferson University. Her many awards include: the aforementioned 2004 Donders Medal (she presented a lecture on developments in the management of intraocular tumors); the Macula Society’s 2002 Rosenthal Award, given to a promising researcher and clinician under 45 years old for excellence in macular diseases; and the 2001 Merrill Reeh Award, in recognition of her outstanding publication of pathology articles related to ophthalmologic plastic surgery. She also was featured at the West Virginia University’s Hutchinson Lecture in 2001.

After graduating with honors from the Pittsburgh medical school, Dr. Shields interned at Mercy Hospital (’83-’84) before serving her three-year residency at Wills. She has received several noteworthy fellowships, including one from the Heed Ophthalmic Foundation fellowship and a 1988 fellowship in London for the study of orbital and eyelid tumors and reconstruction.

Philadelphia Magazine has recognized Dr. Shields as the city’s “top doctor” six times in the past decade (’94-’97, ’02 and ’05) and its May 1997 cover story praised her as a “physician with international prominence.”

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Dr. Carol Shields is a world-renowned physician, specializing in ocular oncology.

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Lally Shields has served her alma mater as a member of the Notre Dame College of Science advisory council since 1989 and she recently was nominated by Notre Dame for the NCAA’s prestigious Silver Anniversary Award.

Carol Lally came to Notre Dame in the fall of 1975 as an accomplished high school athlete and promising student in the science field. Women’s basketball had yet to earn varsity status at Notre Dame during the mid-1970s but she was a starter on the school’s club team during her first two years – before leading the varsity in scoring during the first two years of the program’s history (’77-’78 and ’78-’79).

Lally – whose sister Maggie played on the first four varsity teams at Notre Dame (’77-’81) – served as team captain during her senior season and received the team’s Rockne Student-Athlete Award for that 1978-79 season before graduating summa cum laude with a 3.91 cumulative GPA. She received the Lawrence Baldinger Award, which recognizes the top graduating seniors for excellence in the pre-med curriculum.

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Carol Lally (left) was Notre Dame’s leading scorer as a junior and senior, also serving as team captain during her final season.

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Originally from Sharon, Pa., Lally excelled in several sports at Kennedy Christian High School – including a third-place finish in the long jump at the 1975 state track-and-field meet (she also twice was a finalist in the mile relay). She was the first female student to serve as president of the student council at KCHS and – somewhat fortuitously – received the 1975 Bausch and Lomb Award for excellence in science.

Carol and Jerry Shields reside in Bryn Mawr, Pa., with their seven children (ages as of June 20, 2005): Jerry (17), Patrick (16), William (15), Margaret (14), John (12), Nellie (9) and Mary (5).

MOONEY has spent the past 13 years as an accomplished engineer, manager and supervisor for Kraft Foods Global. She currently serves as the plant manager for the Kraft Foods operation in Fresno, Calif., after spending the previous 12 years working for the company’s Chicago-based operation in a number of roles.

After graduating from Notre Dame in 1989 with her degree in mechanical engineering, Mooney went to work for the Frito-Lay manufacturing plant in Charlotte, N.C., serving as a project engineer and product unit supervisor from 1989-92. Her first few years with Kraft (’92-’95) included serving as a maintenance/building operations manager for the plants in Glenview, Ill., during which time she helped complete the process that decertified the union.

Mooney – who received her MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg Institute in 1996 – served as a Kraft senior buyer in procurement in ’95-’96 and was a distribution implementation manager from ’96-’99, during which time she helped open four new warehouses and was involved in the largest restructuring of a supply chain in food industry history.

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Former Notre Dame softball player Barb Mooney has played a key role in the recent growth of Kraft Foods.

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She later was an associate director of strategy with Kraft from 1999-2002 and then was a business unit manager with Kraft’s Chicago Bakery from ’02-’04, helping to integrate the Kraft and Nabisco supply chain in Mexico in 2002 and also leading the integration of Kraft Puerto Rico/Mexico into the Kraft America supply chain.

Mooney’s current role in Fresno includes overseeing the only plant in the world that makes the popular snack food corn nuts. She serves as a co-leader of the Kraft Foods Women in Operations organization and also is a member of the Betta Gamma Sigma honor society for academic individuals in the business world.

Mooney was involved with tutoring and mentoring programs during her time in Charlotte and Chicago (Cabrini Green), earning the Charlotte “Big Sister of the Year” award in 1991. She has remained active in a number of sports during her postgraduate days, including softball, beach volleyball and golf.

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Barb Mooney was a top softball pitcher throughout her four years on the Notre Dame campus.

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Like fellow incoming board member, Dr. Carol Lally Shields, Mooney was a leading member of a club sport at Notre Dame before serving as a team captain when the sport converted to varsity status. After serving as a starter for three years on the club team, Mooney won seven games and posted a 2.40 ERA with 39 strikeouts while tossing 126 innings for the first varsity team in 1989. She also played inter-hall tennis and volleyball at Notre Dame, was involved in the Big Brother and Big Sister program for two years and was a regular volunteere at a local homeless shelter.

Mooney was an accomplished prep athlete in several sports, first at St. Stephens (now called Nouvel Catholic Central) in Saginaw, Mich., before moving with her family to Decatur, Ala., for her final year of high school. She earned all-country softball honors at Decatur High School, after posting a 1.30 season ERA and batting .354. Mooney also was a four-time letterwinner in volleyball and twice lettered in basketball during her high school career.

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Barb Mooney was a top softball pitcher throughout her four years on the Notre Dame campus.

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Her father Albert Mooney graduated from Notre Dame in 1958 while her uncle Robert Mooney, Jr. (’52), and two cousins – John Mooney (’86) and Patrick Mooney (’77) – also are Notre Dame graduates (as is her cousin Al’s son Matt Mooney, a 2005 graduate).

RAHILL currently serves as the partner-in-charge of tax for KPMG’s Chicago and Milwaukee tax practices. A CPA and attorney, he specializes in taxation for both public and closely-held businesses, with more than 25 years of experience in the field. A member of KPMG’s Midwest leadership team, he also leads the tax practice’s Middle Market Initiative in the Midwest, serves on the Chicago Charitable Contributions Committee, is chair of the Chicago office’s Work Environment Action Council (a national initiative to improve the work/life balance with the firm) and annually teaches several of the firm’s management training classes.

Prior to assuming his current role with KPMG in 2001, Rahill had been involved in various roles with the firm since 1985 (then known as Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co.). Prior to finishing law school, he had worked five years in audit and tax with another Big 8 accounting firm – where one of his co-workers on the audit staff included current Monogram Club treasurer Ken Haffey. He later received his J.D. (’85) and LL.M. (’91) degrees from the DePaul University College of Law.

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Former Notre Dame swimmer Dan Rahill – currently a partner-in-charge with KPMG tax practice – has joined the Monogram Club board for a three-year term from 2005-08.

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Rahill has worked with many multinational corporations in his career, with extensive experience in tax structuring, negotiation, transaction management, mergers, acquisitions and divestitures. He also has significant experience with personal financial and estate planning for business owners. He has been a frequent speaker at various organizations such as Tax Executives, Inc., and the American Taxation Association, and has served as the lead tax partner on Alberto Culver Company, Brunswick Corporation, Comdisco, Fellowes, GE Healthcare, Midas, PepsiAmericas, and Solo Cup Company.

He also is a member of the board of directors for the Tax Assistance Program (providing professional tax assistance to the working poor of Chicago) and is on the board of Metropolitan Family Services, a program that provides and mobilizes the services needed to strengthen families and communities.

Rahill – who won the closest-to-the-pin contest at the 2005 Monogram Club golf outing – has remained involved with his alma mater as a member of Notre Dame’s Accountancy Advisory Board since 2000, also serving as KPMG’s college relations and fundraising partner for the University while also frequently contributing as a guest lecturer in the accounting program. The Buffalo, N.Y., native is a member of the American Institute of CPAs, the Illinois CPA Society, the American Bar Association, and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Tax Court.

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Dan Rahill picked up the closest-to-the-pin award following the 2005 Monogram Club golf outing.

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A backstroke specialist during his years with the Notre Dame swimming team, Rahill earned a monogram in 1979 before graduating with his degree in accounting. He later married Notre Dame classmate Mary Clair Tollaksen, a monogram winner in her own right who served as a captain of the 1978 field hockey team (she went on to earn her nursing degree from Northwestern, in 1980).

Rahill’s brother Kurt (’81) also is a Notre Dame graduate, as are his three brothers-in-law, Tim (’64), Terry (’66) and Tom Tollaksen (’71).

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Dan Rahill – a backstroke specialist at Notre Dame – has remained active in swimming and also keeps busy with his four sons’ athletic endeavors.

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Dan and Mary Clair Rahill reside in Northfield, Ill., with their four sons: Daniel, Kevin, Patrick and Colin. Daniel, captain of his high school baseball and golf teams, will begin his freshman year at Notre Dame in the fall of 2005 and intends to pursue a major in engineering. His three brothers each are active in baseball and swimming, with Kevin serving as a top backstroker at Loyola Academy (team finished 7th in the state) and Patrick a member of the Wilmette Travel Baseball Team that will be playing at a July 4th tournament in Cooperstown N.Y. – while Colin’s nine-year-old pinto baseball team is coached by his proud father.

Rahill – a longtime associate of recent Monogram Club board member and current advisor Rick Pullano – has remained active in swimming through the Illinois State Masters Championships, including winning several state backstroke titles during the late 1980s.

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Former irish football player Frank Reynolds has owned his own law firm in Chicago for more than 40 years.

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REYNOLDS has been a private attorney in Chicago for more than 40 years, founding with his father the Chicago-based Law Office of Reynolds and Reynolds Ltd. in 1964. His practice – which also now includes his daughter, Jeanne Reynolds – specializes in business transactions, commercial litigation, corporate, estate planning and real estate work.

After graduating from Notre Dame in 1959 with a liberal arts degree from the General Program (now known as the Program of Liberal Studies), Reynolds went on to earn his law degree from Loyola Chicago (’62) and worked two years at the U.S. Department of Justice as a trial attorney in the Chicago anti-trust division before transitioning into private practice in Chicago.

He served on the board of directors for the Notre Dame Club of Chicago in the late 1960s (when it passed an advisory vote to approve the admission of women at Notre Dame) and was a 12-year board of trustees member for the National Leukemia Society in the 1970s and ’80s. Reynolds currently serves on the Loyola University School of Law board of governors and was a director and chairman of the audit committee for a corporation listed on the NASDAQ.

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A determined Frank Reynolds walked on to the Notre Dame football team in the mid-1950s and went on to be a key member of the Irish backfield.

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Despite not being recruited by Notre Dame but having scholarship offers from Michigan and Stanford, Reynolds walked on to the Irish team and went on to earn three monograms as a regular contributor at left halfback. He was the starter in a 1957 backfield that also included right halfback Dick Lynch, quarterback Bob Williams and fullback Nick Pietrosante – with Lynch scoring the historic touchdown that beat Oklahoma that season (7-0) to end what remains the longest winning streak (47 games) in college football history.

Reynolds scored a pair of touchdowns and totaled 26 tackles as a sophomore in 1956 – helping him earn scholarship status for the rest of his career – before gaining 191 rushing yards and 68 receiving yards in ’57 (his final season, in ’58, was slowed by injury). He also served as president of the on-campus branch of the Notre Dame Monogram Club.

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Frank Reynolds and his Notre Dame teammates halted what remains the longest winning streak in NCAA football history, winning 7-0 at Oklahoma in 1957 to snap the Sooners’ 47-game win streak.

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In addition to those players listed above, Reynolds also played alongside the likes of Heisman Trophy quarterback Paul Hornung and All-America linemen Al Ecuyer, Monty Stickles and Myron Pottios.

The Chicago native and Fenwick High School product currently resides in Northbrook, Ill., with his wife Peggy. Their five children include 1983 Saint Mary’s graduate Jeanne (whose husband Tom Fallon is an ’83 ND grad.), Kevin, Margaret, Carolyn (whose husband Bob Armour is an ’87 ND grad.) and John.

TYLERcurrently resides in Bismarck, N.D., where he is co-owner of E.A.P.C. Architects and Engineers, a 55-person firm that specializes in medical and higher-education project design.

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Jim Tyler – an All-America middle-distance runner in his days with the Irish – has come back to ND from another ND, joining the Monogram Club board two years after founding the ND Club of North Dakota.

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Originally from Norwood, N.Y., Tyler ended up in North Dakota during eight years serving as an officer in the Air Force, stationed at Grand Forks from 1988-96. He met his wife Karen, a Grand Forks native, during that time and first became involved with Grand Forks-based E.A.P.C. in 1997, after serving two years as a consulting engineer.

Tyler’s stay in N.D. benefited the other ND that is close to his heart, as he quickly erased the only state that did not have a Notre Dame alumni club by founding the Notre Dame Club of North Dakota in 2003 (he currently serves as the club’s president).

A 1986 Notre Dame graduate in mechanical engineering (three years before his fellow board member Barbara Mooney would earn the same degree), Tyler worked as a quality control temp for IBM in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., before joining the Air Force’s Officer Training Program. His time in the Air Force allowed him to continue training as a competitive runner while he also earned his MBA from Central Michigan University (’94) through a special postgraduate program arranged by the Air Force.

Tyler – who was a three-year board member with the Kiwanis Club of Fargo from ’01-’03 – first served as a staff mechanical engineer with E.A.P.C. before eventually becoming a co-owner, starting in 2000.

Bill Hurd earned indoor and outdoor All-America honors in 1968 but no Notre Dame track-and-field competitor had matched that feat until nearly 20 years later, when Tyler’s return for a fifth year of eligibility paid great dividends in the 1986 spring semester. It was then that he anchored the 4×800 relay that placed third at the NCAA indoor meet before registering an eighth-place finish in the NCAA outdoor 1,500 meters.

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Jim Tyler anchored Notre Dame’s historic 4×800 relay team at the 1986 NCAA indoor meet.

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Notre Dame’s historic showing in the 4×800 relay represented the fifth-fastest time in the history of that event at the NCAAs. John McNelis started the relay off that day in Oklahoma City with a time of 1:52.4 before Robert Nobles (1:50.4) and Jeff Van Wie (1:49.8) ran the middle legs. Tyler (1:48.9) then kicked into overdrive and nearly crossed the finish-line first, as Notre Dame’s time of 7:21.01 narrowly trailed champion Arkansas (7:20.72) and runner-up Georgetown.

The four middle-distance runners won the prestigious Drake Relays a month later (7:20.74) and went on to be named the Notre Dame “Male Athletes of the Year” by Notre Dame Scholastic magazine.

Tyler’s All-America finish in the outdoor 1,500 (3:42.16) made him the second Notre Dame runner ever to post the equivalent of a sub-4:00 mile. His other indoor track highlights included winning the 1983 Midwestern Collegiate Conference 1,000-yard title (2:14.0) before finishing second to eventual NCAA champ Jim Spivey at the Indiana Intercollegiate in an NCAA qualifying time of 2:09.0 that tied the ND record shared by Ed Dean (’66) and Joe Quigley (’69). He also helped set the ND medley relay record at the ’83 Central Collegiates, was runner-up in the ’84 MCC indoor 1,000 (2:17.55) and won the ’96 Indiana Intercollegiate 1,500-meter race (3:48.66).

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Jim Tyler – now co-owner of an architecture and engineering firm – was the first Notre Dame track performer in 18 years to earn indoor and outdoor All-America honors.

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The Olympic hopeful’s career highlights in outdoor track included winning the 1983 Indiana Intercollegiate 1,500 (3:48.82), running his 1,200-meter leg in 2:25 as part of the runner-up medley relay team at the ’83 Mt. SAC meet (ND record time of 9:36.2) and finishing as the 1,500 runner-up at the ’84 Indiana Intercollegiate (3:52.69) and MCC meet (3:49.80), plus a 6th-place showing in the 1984 IC4A mile (4:12.03) and a 5th-place finish in the 1,500 at the 1986 IC4As (3:45.27).

Tyler also excelled in cross country, serving as a two-time Notre Dame team captain (’84 and ’85) with his top finishes including 3rd at the 1984 MCCs (qualified for NCAAs) and 4th in the ’85 MCC race.

As a senior at Norwood-Norfolk Central High School, Tyler set the New York state record for the indoor mile (4:15.3) and was the nation’s No. 5-ranked prep miler in 1981. He also played two years of both basketball and soccer at NNHS.

Jim and Karen Tyler – who was appointed in 2001 by governor John Hoeven of North Dakota to be a member of his cabinet, as securities commissioner – reside in Bismarck with their daughter Kathryn (9) and son Brennan (6).

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Katie Neff – just one year removed from completing her Notre Dame volleyball career – has joined the Monogram Club board, filling the final year of Van Pearcy’s term as he rotates into the secretary role.

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NEFF has spent the past year working for the Chicago-based Abelson-Taylor pharmaceutical advertising agency – the nation’s largest independent advertising agency – and is set to begin her studies at the Loyola Chicago Law School in the fall of 2005.

A regular contributor at the opposite-hitter position during her final two seasons with the Irish, the 6-foot-4 Neff averaged 1.00 blocks per game during her career – good for 12th in the Notre Dame record book and 2nd-best by a non-middle blocker. She helped Notre Dame annually rank among the nation’s block leaders, including a 2003 season in which the Irish claimed the NCAA blocking title.

Neff logged 250 games and 90 matches during her career while helping Notre Dame compile a four-year record of 95-29 from 2000-03, with the Irish advancing to the NCAAs in each of her four seasons. She played a key role in the ’03 team setting the Notre Dame record for season block average (3.72) while helping hold the ’03 opponents to a .165 hitting percentage, also combining with Lauren Brewster, Lauren Kelbley and Emily Loomis in each recording 100-plus blocks (they were the first four ND teammates ever to do so in ’02 before duplicating the feat in ’03).

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Katie Neff – who will begin her first year at Loyola Chicago Law School in the fall of ’05 – helped Notre Dame lead the nation in blocks during the 2003 season.

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Her 543 career kills include a career-best 21 to help upset 10th-ranked Pepperdine (’02) while her career-best 9 blocks vs. Utah (’03) contributed to her career total of 250.

Neff’s eight Dean’s List semesters at Notre Dame included a 4.0 in the 2002 spring semester en route to graduating in 2004 with a 3.69 cumulative GPA, as an American studies major. She was the volleyball team’s representative on the Student-Athlete Advisory Council, serving on the community service subcommittee, and also received a certificate for her participation in the athletic department’s Leadership Institute. Neff also served internships at the South Bend Tribune and Notre Dame Magazine and was nominated for the prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship program.

A lifelong Notre Dame fan, Neff attended the same St. Louis-area high school (Cor Jesu Academy) as former Notre Dame All-America basketball standout Niele Ivey. Neff – whose father John played basketball at Alabama-Huntsville – combined to set 21 records in volleyball and basketball at Cor Jesu.