Aug. 23, 2017
NOTRE DAME, Indiana — Lieutenant General Bryan Fenton, a 1987 University of Notre Dame graduate and former senior manager for the Fighting Irish football team, has been named the 2017 recipient of the Notre Dame Monogram Club’s Edward “Moose” Krause Distinguished Service Award. The award is the highest honor given by the Monogram Club.
Fenton, a member of the Monogram Club Board of Directors from 2011-15, will be presented the award during the weekend of the Notre Dame-North Carolina State football game, scheduled for Oct. 28.
The Moose Krause Distinguished Service Award is annually bestowed upon an active Monogram Club member who has achieved notoriety in the following areas:
– Exemplary performance in local, state or national government
– Outstanding dedication to the spirit and ideals of Notre Dame
– Demonstrated responsibility to and concern for their respective communities
– Extraordinary commitment and involvement with youth
Past recipients of the Moose Krause Distinguished Service Award include Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C. (1986), Ara Parseghian (1998), Rev. Edward A. “Monk” Malloy, C.S.C. (2005), Lou Holtz (2008), Ruth Riley (2015) and Justice Alan Page (2016).
“The Monogram Club is honored that Lieutenant General Bryan Fenton has agreed to accept this year’s Moose Krause Award,” says Monogram Club President Kevin O’Connor (’89, lacrosse). “Lieutenant General Fenton’s long-standing and exemplary service and commitment to protecting our country — as well as his dedication to Notre Dame and support of the Monogram Club — make him a very worthy recipient of our highest honor. We look forward to presenting the Moose Krause Award to General Fenton and his family this fall.”
Fenton has served in the United States Army for over 30 years after being commissioned as an Army officer from the Notre Dame Army ROTC program. In 2014, Fenton was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General, and then advanced to the position of Major General in 2016 as the Commander of Special Operations Command, Pacific. This past May, Fenton received a third star and became the first Special Operations officer to assume the job of Deputy Commander at U.S. Pacific Command (USPACOM) in Honolulu, Hawaii. USPACOM is responsible for US military operations in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region and is comprised of over 350,000 Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and civilian employees.
Fenton, who was born in New Orleans and raised in Seymour, Tenn., holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in marketing from Notre Dame. He also has a Master of Military Arts and Science degree from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. and served as the 2009 Army Fellow in the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Additionally, Fenton has received negotiation/leadership training at Harvard’s Business/Law Schools.
As a career Infantry/Special Forces officer, Fenton has served at various posts in the United States and locations overseas, participating in numerous operations such as: Operation Joint Forge (Bosnia), Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan/Africa), Operation Iraqi Freedom (Iraq) and Operation Odyssey Dawn (Libya).
“I had the honor and good fortune of working for Coach Holtz while I was at Notre Dame,” says Fenton. “What an incredible example of God, Country, Notre Dame. He is a true selfless servant who wanted to make each of us better.
“As we stood on the sidelines watching many a practice during his first year at Notre Dame, he would talk to me about his MBA degree, though when he spoke about an MBA, he meant `Made by Army’ degree. When he did that, he’d talk about the sergeants, the corporals and the privates that shaped him when he was a lieutenant. He shared that leading soldiers prepared him in many ways for being a coach and that serving the nation was a tremendous responsibility. I never forgot his speeches about trust, love and commitment and later in my military career, I shared them with my teams and troops.”
Bryan Fenton (left) with members of the Monogram Club board of directors and staff at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in 2011.
During his time on the Monogram Club board, Fenton organized numerous outings for fellow board members — as well as Notre Dame athletic teams — to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., to visit with wounded veterans. He also participated in the Wounded Warrior softball game hosted by the Notre Dame softball program in September of 2013. The game featured the Fighting Irish softball team, Notre Dame alumni, and coaches playing against the U.S. military’s Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team. Fenton also is a volunteer with the USO in Honolulu.
“From the time he was a senior manager until he became a three-star General, Bryan has consistently fulfilled my highest expectations because of his dedication to other people and helping them to solve their problems,” said Holtz, an honorary member of the Monogram Club. “He has not disappointed me in any phase of his life — professionally, personally, or socially. It comes as no surprise to me that Lieutenant General Fenton has been chosen for the prestigious Notre Dame Monogram Club’s Moose Krause Distinguished Service Award.”
Fenton and his wife, Dawn, have two daughters: Nora, a freshman at Notre Dame, and Cecilia. The family resides in Honolulu.
ABOUT THE MOOSE KRAUSE DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD
The award is named in honor of Notre Dame athletics legend Edward “Moose” Krause (1913-92), a three-sport monogram winner in the early 1930s who earned All-America honors in football and basketball while also competing in track and field. He later served as an assistant football coach and assistant and head basketball coach at Notre Dame before becoming one of the nation’s most respected athletic directors, serving in that role at his alma mater from 1949-82.
The Monogram Club’s officers and board of directors select the annual recipient.
See Complete List Of Moose Krause Distinguished Service Award Recipients
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