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2001 Honorary Monogram Recipients (ND National Monogram Club)

Note: the presentation of an honorary monogram to Yves Auriol was made by former Irish fencing coach Mike DeCicco at the fencing program’s annual team banquet while Don Guglielmino’s honorary monogram was bestowed posthumously in his native California. The other four honoraries were recognized at the Monogram Club’s annual dinner and awards banquet, held during Notre Dame’s reunion weekend on June 7 in the Joyce Center.

Presentation to Yves Auriol, by Mike DeCicco

“Yves has been extremely loyal to Notre Dame during his 17 years here working with the fencing program and he has led the way as we have remained one of the top programs in the nation. He has done an excellent job at continuing to recruit and develop top-level fencers and he also was very deserving this year in receiving the national coach of the year award. Yves knew that Notre Dame was a special place when he came here in 1985 and I know he sees this as a great honor to become an honorary member of the Monogram Club.”

COMMENTS FROM AURIOL: “I am greatly honored by this and truly have enjoyed my time here at Notre Dame. Seventeen years ago, I had to make a choice between coming to Notre Dame or possibly going to another top fencing school and I decided to come to Notre Dame because of its reputation and what the school stands for. These years at Notre Dame have been very rewarding and there are many people who have made the fencing program such a great success. I thank the Monogram Club for this great honor and I am confident that the fencing program will continue to be a great representative of Notre Dame during the coming years.”

AURIOL served as head women’s fencing coach at Notre Dame from 1985-95 and assumed the head coaching responsibilities for both the men’s and women’s programs in 1996. He has seen his Notre Dame fencers combine for 54 All-America honors (six of them NCAA champions), plus five Academic All-America citations. Auriol’s ’87 squad claimed the NCAA women’s fencing title while his ’94 women’s squad helped Notre Dame win the NCAA combined title.

Yves Auriol recently was honored by the city of South Bend for his contributions to fencing.

Widely respected by his coaching peers, Auriol has been instrumental in the transformation of the women’s program at Notre Dame, with his women’s teams losing just 22 matches during his tenure (344-22). During every season from 1996-2000, Auriol coached the Irish to second-place finishes at the NCAAs. Notre Dame finished third in 2001, with Auriol recognized as national coach of the year.

Auriol’s 2000 men’s squad produced three fencers who placed among the top three at the NCAAs-a feat matched just once previously in the program’s storied history-while an unprecedented six Irish men’s fencers earned All-America in 2001.

A native of France, Auriol graduated in 1955 from Lycee de Toulouse in Toulouse before earning a master’s degree as a fencing master from the Institute National du Sport in Paris.

After establishing himself as one of the top fencing teachers in the world, Auriol moved to Portland, Ore., in 1972. He formed the Salle Auriol Fencing Club and spent some time as the women’s fencing coach at Portland State from 1975-85 and coordinated the fencing program.

A former professional rugby player, he joined Notre Dame in the summer of 1985 and serves as an instructor in the physical education department.

Auriol has served as a coach at three Olympic Games (1980-88) while also helping coach the United States at various world championship events in the late 1970s.

Under Auriol’s tutelage, former Notre Dame All-American Molly Sullivan was a two-time NCAA champion and led the Irish to the ’87 national title. She won a gold medal at the 1986Pan Am Games before competing in the 1988 and ’92 Olympics.

Auriol and his wife, Georgette, are parents of a son, Stephane, a four-year foilist on the Notre Dame fencing team who graduated in 1999.

Presentation to Tony Yelovich, by assistant athletic director George Kelly:

“This next gentleman is one of the most loyal people I’ve worked with. He spent 21 years in the vineyards of assistant coaching … and he was finally beckoned to the world’s greatest university 15 years ago. He coached every position on the offensive line and became not only an outstanding coach, but a recruiting coordinator, and was accorded the honor of the top recruiting coordinator in the nation. That takes something, to shift gears, do things that people ask, be loyal, hardworking and extremely dedicated. The fellow is inducted into the Pennsylvania High School Hall of Fame. Now this is only second to the National Football Hall of Fame, if you’re from Pennsylvania, so this was an honor he didn’t let me forget. In 1994, he became an assistant A.D. and has served tremendously in every capacity asked of him. He is currently the game management director, and if you only knew how encompassing this job is. He is here in night and day, because he is extremely responsible, extremely dedicated, and never complains. I’d like to present to you, the pride of Paoli, Pa., Tony Yelovich.

YELOVICH’S COMMENTS: “This is a tremendous honor, and for my wife to keep a secret, that’s unbelievable. … There are so many great individuals who’ve gone before me to accept this award, and it is a total shock. It’s a pleasure for me to be at Notre Dame, it’s an honor. I know when Lou (Holtz) called when I was at Stanford … I said, `I’ll be on the next plane that’s out there.’ And it’s been a great trip, a great experience. I’m very fortunate to work with the people I’ve associated with-all the head coaches, all the assistant coaches, they’re the best in the country and so is our administration. Thank you.”

YELOVICH is in his seventh year as an assistant athletic director at Notre Dame, with responsibility for game management, and is the administrator for the women’s soccer, softball and men’s and women’s swimming-and-diving teams. He served on the Irish football staff for eight seasons, the final three as recruiting coordinator after five years coaching a variety of positions: offensive line in ’86 and ’87, guards and centers in ’88, receivers in ’89 and tight ends in ’90.

The Paoli, Pa., native was an offensive line coach at Stanford (’84-`85), Tulane (’80-`83), and Arizona (’77-`79), among others. While coaching at Tennessee Tech, his team recorded a 10-0 record in 1972 and played in the Grant-land Rice Bowl. He helped coach a team of Notre Dame alumni that traveled to Hamburg, Germany, for the 2000 Charity Bowl and defeated the Hamburg Blue Devils 14-10 (coaches for the alumni team were selected by the former ND players), with proceeds benefiting the Brennan-Boland scholarship fund (for sons and daughters of Monogram Club members attending Notre Dame).

Yelovich, who was honored by the All-America Football Foundation in 1998, began his coaching career at the University of Tampa, his alma mater, as a graduate assistant in the spring of ’64. He served that season as defensive coordi-nator and linebacker coach at Seminole High School in Largo, Fla., and coached ends, linebackers and centers during the ’65 and ’67 seasons at Parsons College in Fairfield, Iowa.

A four-year letterman as a center at Tampa, Yelovich captained the ’63 squad, was an All-America pick in ’62 and ’63, and is a member of the Tampa Hall of Fame. He graduated from Tampa in ’64 with de-grees in his-tory and physical education and earned a master’s degree from Truman University in Missouri. A 1995 inductee into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, Yelovich and his wife Jean are parents of two daughters who are Notre Dame graduates–Jill and Jody, an assistant athletic director for employee services at Notre Dame.

Presentation to Dr. Willard Yergler, by Dr. Dennis Nigro

“This next recipient told me recently he never had the privilege of going to Notre Dame and I was impressed with that notion that he felt it was a privilege to be associated with this school. He was here when Ara Parseghian was the coach, Moose Krause was the athletic director. There have been five athletic directors since he’s been here, five head coaches. Will Yergler has worked tirelessly to be the physician for this football team. I know how hard and how much he loves the school. I know the difference between frauds and people who really care, and Will really cares.”

YERGLER’S COMMENTS: “When I first came into practice in South Bend, I joined Dr. Bodnar, and he needed help out here, and when he asked me to assist him I didn’t really know what I was getting into. But it’s been such a large part of my life for the last 28 years. It’s just been a privilege and an honor to work with all of these student-athletes. I’ve come to really appreciate and love Notre Dame as much as anybody that ever attended here. It’s been a long time and I thank you very much.”

YERGLER has been involved with the Notre Dame football program since 1973 and is entering his 16th season as director of Notre Dame’s sports medicine program (prior to that, he assisted with the football squad’s orthopaedic program). Yergler began his orthopaedic practice in South Bend in 1972 and currently is a member of South Bend Orthopaedic Associates.

A lifelong resident of northern Indiana, Yergler was born in Valparaiso and graduated from Hannah High School before receiving his bachelor of science degree in 1964 from Purdue University. He graduated from the Indiana University School of Medicine in 1967 and served an internship at South Bend’s Memorial Hospital before taking up his residency with Indiana University Hospitals, from 1968-71.

Yergler and his wife, the former Patty Doncaster, were married in 1985. The couple resides in Bremen, Ind., with their seven children.

Presentation to Jerry McKenna, by Rev. James Riehle, C.S.C.

“I’ve known this man for 45 years. We were in the seminary together. After he left he seminary, he went in the army and became a colonel, he spent over 30 years in the army. I think it’s a tremendous honor. He is the man who designed and made the sculptures of Frank Leahy and Moose Krause. It’s a great honor and a pleasure to present to Jerry McKenna an honorary monogram from the University of Notre Dame.”

McKENNA’S COMMENTS: “I’m up here for my 40th reunion and they unveiled a sculpture right across the road today, and ever-young Eleanor Vanderhagen asked me to come to this dinner tonight and I thought it was wonderful. I am absolutely shocked. I saw John Lujack and he said, `Didn’t they make you a member of this organization last year?’ and I was so honored that he thought that even could be. There’s a lot of deserving people, but I don’t know if anyone could be happier than I am. Thank you so much.”

McKENNA is best known among Notre Dame faithful for his sculptures of Frank Leahy and Edward “Moose” Krause that have been unveiled in recent years outside of Notre Dame Stadium and the Joyce Center. A native of Connellsville, Pa., he has lived in his adopted state of Texas for 35 years and his studio is located in a converted barn in the hill country town of Boerne.

McKenna-who holds both U.S. and Irish citizenship-spends part of each year in Ireland. A former Air Force officer and decorated Vietnam veteran, his early recognition came from bronze portraits of famous military leaders, such as Generals Billy Mitchell, Ira Eaker and Jimmy Doolittle. His work can be found in museums, parks, churches, public buildings, universities, halls of fame and private collections around the world. In 1987, McKenna was chosen to create the Processional Crucifix for the altar of the Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II in nearby San Antonio.

After beginning his formal study of art at the age of 14 at the Gertrude Herbert School of Art in Augusta, Ga., McKenna continued his studies at the American Academy of Art in Chicago and the San Antonio Art Institute. He received a bachelor of fine arts degree from Notre Dame, where he studied under Robert Leader and Dr. Stanley Sasha Sessler, and a Master of Art degree from Webster University in Webster Grove, Mo.

McKenna also has produced sculptures of Notre Dame football legends Knute Rockne (located at the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame in Des Plaines, Ill.) and George Gipp (located at the Ronald Reagan Library in San Clemente, Calif.). He has been contracted to provide busts for enshrinees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and his sculpture of Winston Churchill is on display in Cambridge, England.

Notre Dame recently presented McKenna with the Rev. Anthony J. Lauck, C.S.C., Fine Arts Award. In addition to the Leahy and Krause sculptures, McKenna has produced two other sculptures for Notre Dame: Rev. Charles Sheedy, C.S.C., located in O’Shaughnessy Hall, and Blessed Brother Andre, now on display at the Schubert Villa retirement home for Holy Cross brothers.

McKenna and his wife Gail are the parents of five grown children. He is an Artist Fellow in the American Society of Aviation Artists and a member of Coppini Academy of Fine Arts.

Presentation to Ralph Roberts, by Don Schaefer (’56, football, former member of Monogram Club board)

“Our recipient tonight is a man who has a true love and devotion for (this) university. He’s translated his love and devotion into action, however, by working tirelessly for the athletic department over the years. He’s assisted (former) coaches Bernie Crimmins and Bob McBride with all of their recruiting efforts throughout western Pennsylvania. He remains loyal to Notre Dame, he’s loyal to his community, he’s loyal to his family. His family is with him here this evening. It gives me the greatest pleasure to present this honorary monogram to my lifelong friend, from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, Mr. Ralph Roberts.”

ROBERTS’ COMMENTS: “I really am honored to be a member of this organization. I see a lot of faces here in the crowd that I have idolized for a good many years. Johnny Lujack, Creighton Miller, Red Mack, Joe Yonto, and many others whose names I’m too excited to recall. I’m really pleased to receive this honor. Thank you very much. Go Irish.”

ROBERTS is a longtime “subway alumni” supporter of Notre Dame who was named the 1954 Central Pennsylvania Notre Dame Man of the Year, in recognition of his support of the Irish football program. Although he never attended Notre Dame, Roberts has seen two of his sons and four grandchildren attend the University while three of his daughters are St. Mary’s graduates. Roberts was involved with Notre Dame recruiting in western Pennsylvania from 1949-79, when the NCAA banned non-employee recruiters. He worked most closely with former Irish assistant coaches Bob McBride and Bernie Crimmins and helped bring Wayne Edmonds to Notre Dame (Edmonds was the first African-American to monogram in football at ND, in 1953). Named the 1989 Punxsutawney Man of the Year for his civic involvement, Roberts heads a wholesale building supply business founded by his father.

Posthumous Presentation to Don Guglielmino, by Rev. E. William Beauchamp, C.S.C. (Notre Dame executive vice president emeritus)

“Don had a great love for Notre Dame and he was very generous to the University and the football program. He was a very simple and caring man, he wasn’t flashy and wasn’t looking to get recognition. His time here was short but he is a true Notre Dame man and went on to become a very successful businessman. Don had a strong belief in what Notre Dame stands for, as a place of values with an athletic program where things are done the right way. This is a very fitting honor that we are able to bestow on Don and his family.”

GUGLIELMINO earlier was conferred the status of honorary alumnus of Notre Dame (in 1996), in recognition of the substantial gifts he made to Notre Dame during his lifetime. A native of Glendale, he attended Notre Dame during the 1939-40 school year and transferred to Stanford before serving in the Pacific theater during World War II. In 1947, Guglielmino established Newhall Hardware Company and later helped found Santa Clarita National Bank in Newhall, Calif., during the mid-1960s. He served as that bank’s chairman of the board for many years, with the bank being sold in 1990 to Security Pacific Bank, which in turn was acquired in 1992 by Bank of America. Guglielmino-who passed away on May 31, 2001, in Brentwood, Calif.-is survived by his wife of 58 years, Flora, three children and three grandchildren. Notre Dame representatives presented the honorary monogram and the symbolic stadium blanket-which includes the ND monogram-to the Guglielmino family.