Six honorary monograms were bestowed during Alumni Reunion week, with four presented at the June 6 Monogram Club dinner. Recipients included longtime Notre Dame supporter and local automobile dealer Mike Leep, former Irish lacrosse coach and Rec. Sports director Rich O’Leary, law school professor Charlie Rice and local attorney Charlie Sweeney. Presenters of the honorary monograms at the dinner included former Notre Dame football players Dewey Poskon (for Leep), Bill Zloch (for Rice) and Johnny Ray (for Sweeney), plus lacrosse coach Kevin Corrigan and former player Dan Charhut (for O’Leary).

Notre Dame trustee Art Decio and athletic director Kevin White were presented honorary monograms in a separate ceremony on June 5. Several other honorary monograms had been awarded in recent months – with recipients including longtime Notre Dame football secretary Jan Blazi, retired local TV and radio sports personality Tom Dennin, former Irish football coaches Dan Devine and Gerry Faust, retiring director of Notre Dame’s Center of Social Concerns Rev. Donald McNeill, C.S.C., ND benefactor John McCullough, retired softball coach Liz Miller and University vice president Scott Malpass.

JAN BLAZI is the longtime administrative assistant in the Notre Dame football office, as primary secretarial contact for head coaches Gerry Faust, Lou Holtz, Bob Davie and Tyrone Willingham. She also served on Notre Dame’s Staff Advisory Council (1995-2000). Her 30-year tenure in the athletic department’s secretarial staff included a stint in the sports information office, before returning to the football office as the head coach’s secretary. She has four children: Chris (a longtime ND employee, currently as a campus controls technician) and ND graduates Tony, Terri and Geoff.

ART DECIO – namesake of Decio Faculty Hall and lifetime Notre Dame trustee – is chairman of Elkhart’s Skyline Corporation, a leading producer of manufactured housing and recreational vehicles (24 companies in 12 states). He has received presidential appointments to three national commissions and his many awards include the United Way’s deTocqueville Award (outstanding volunteer service), the Indiana Association of Rehabilitation Facilities first CAUSE Award (Commitment, Awareness, Understanding, Support, Empowerment) and the Salvation Army’s Distinguished Auxiliary Service Cross. Decio has served on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Special Olympics International and the Finance Council for the Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. He and his wife Patricia have five children and 14 grandchildren.

TOM DENNIN was sports director at WNDU-TV from 1969-82, providing TV and radio play-by-play for ND football and radio broadcasts for several other Irish sports (also hosting football and basketball coaches shows). He later hosted a sportstalk show at WSBT Radio from 1983-90 and in the late ’90s, before retiring. A Philadelphia native, he graduated from St. Joseph’s College and Columbia School of Broadcasting and was sports director at WNBF-TV in Binghamton, N.Y., covering minor-league baseball and college teams (Ithaca football, BIG EAST basketball). Dennin and wife Kathleen have seven children and 12 grandchildren.

DAN DEVINE – who passed away on May 9 at the age of 77 in suburban Phoenix, after a yearlong illness – was the coach of Notre Dame’s 1977 national championship team and a College Football Hall of Famer. A native of Augusta, Wis., Devine’s 1975-80 Irish teams combined for a 53-16-1 record (.764), headlined by the 11-1 Joe Montana-led 1977 team that won the national title. Most noteworthy of those victories was a trademark 49-19 win over No. 5 USC in which Notre Dame warmed up in its traditional blue, then reappeared prior to kickoff in green jerseys worn the remainder of the Devine era. Notre Dame won the national title with a 38-10 Cotton Bowl triumph over unbeaten Texas. A former Michigan State assistant, Devine was head coach at Arizona State from ’55-’57 (his ’57 team was 10-0) and at Missouri from ’58-’70 (93-37-7, four bowl wins). He was named Missouri athletic director in 1966 and was head coach and GM of the Green Bay Packers from ’71-’74 (his ’72 team went 10-4, with Devine coach of the year). After resigning from coaching in 1980, Devine returned to ASU as executive director of the Sun Angel Foundation and, in 1987, directed a startup ASU program designed to combat substance abuse. He served as Missouri’s AD from ’92-’94. . A 1948 graduate of Minnesota-Duluth,Devine was married to the former Joanne Brookhart, who died in December 2000. He is survived by seven children.

Gerry Faust (left), with ND Alumni Association exec. dir. Chuck Lennon

GERRY FAUST currently works in the University of Akron development office, after serving as the Zips head football coach from 1987-94. The former Irish head football coach (’81-’85) – who remains an avid supporter of Notre Dame athletic teams – compiled a 247-96-6 overall record in 31 seasons as a head football coach, including a 174-17-2 mark and four national titles at Cincinnati’s Moeller High School. Faust and his wife Marlene are parents of three children.

Mike Leep (second from left) and Dewey Poskon, flanked by Monogram Club president Jim Carroll (left) and vice president Dave Duerson (right)

MIKE LEEP is recognized by those in the Notre Dame family for his integrity and passion for the University’s mission. A longtime benefactor, he has been a primary collaborator in helping the University better the community through its support of local non-profit organizations. His involvement with countless charities includes sitting on the board of the Logan Center, the St. Joseph Care Foundation and the Morris Performing Arts Center. His various awards include the Lee Slaughter Award (“true friend of Logan Center”) and the Distinguished American Award from the College Football Hall Of Fame (recognizing community contributions). Leep founded a Dodge dealership in Highland, Ind., in 1973 (with Van Gurley) and opened a Buick dealership in South Bend in 1977 – with his ownership growing to 11 dealerships. He received of a 2002 Time magazine Quality Dealer Award (for exceptional performance and distinguished community service). He and his wife Karen are the parents of three children.

SCOTT MALPASS, Notre Dame’s vice president for finance and chief investment officer, works closely with members of the University’s Board of Trustees in managing more than $3 billion of financial assets. Malpass, who has coordinated Notre Dame’s debt financing since 1990, also is an assistant professor of finance and business economics in the Mendoza College of Business. Prior to joining the investment office in 1988, he was an officer with Irving Trust Company. Malpass is a 1984 Notre Dame graduate, also receiving his MBA from Notre Dame in 1986.

JOHN McCULLOUGH – a ’55 ND grad in communications and a founding member of the Badin Guild and Sorin Society – was a Hall-of-Fame TV anchor at Milwaukee’s WTMJ (’67-’88), after filling a similar role at South Bend’s WNDU (he also produced ND basketball broadcasts from the old fieldhouse and was on the production team for the Lindsey Nelson delayed football broadcasts). A documentary producer/host for Wisconsin Public Broadcasting (since 1988), he has used his friendships to aid several ND fundraising efforts. McCullough and wife Sandy live in Scottsdale, Ariz.

REV. DONALD McNEILL, C.S.C., directed the Center for Social Concerns from its founding in 1983. He has been an associate professor of theology and a professional specialist, teaching a course linked with service-learning, and has overseen multiple seminars connected with Catholic Social Tradition. A 1958 Notre Dame graduate, Fr. McNeill studied at the Gregorian University in Rome, where he was ordained a priest in the Congregation of the Holy Cross in 1965. He earned his doctorate in pastoral theology in 1971 from Princeton Theological Seminary and joined the ND faculty that year.

LIZ MILLER led ND softball through a string of successful seasons (’93-’01), with nine conference titles and a 376-156 record (.707). Combined with 17 years at Lake Michigan College, her teams went 917-298, won 21 conference titles and had 13 straight winning seasons. The Irish won 30-plus games every season of her tenure, played in six NCAA Championships, produced 10 All-Americans and 14 Academic All-Americans. Her 2001 team (54-7) rose as high as eighth in the national polls and posted a 33-game win streak (longest ever by an ND team-oriented sport). Miller and her husband Lloyd reside in Buchanan, Mich., and are the parents of two Notre Dame grads: Jennifer (’93) and Jeremy (’96).

Rich O’Leary (center), with Kevin Corrigan (left) and Dan Charhut (right) – flanked by Jim Carroll and Dave Duerson

RICH O’LEARY is embarking on his 32nd year at Notre Dame, currently serving as director of intramural and club sports. He also oversees St. Joseph Lake Beach and the Bengal Bouts boxing program. He served as Notre Dame’s head men’s lacrosse coach from 1971-88, including the Irish program’s first eight seasons of varsity status. A native of East Meadow, N.Y., O’Leary graduated from Cortland State in 1971, adding a master’s degree from Notre Dame in ’76. He helped Nassau Community College win the 1967 national junior college title and was a two-time All-American at Cortland State. O’Leary was given a Special Presidential Award from Notre Dame in June of 1996. He and his wife Linda have four children.

Charlie Rice (second from left) and Bill Zloch, flanked by Jim Carroll and vice president Dave Duerson

CHARLIE RICE is a professor emeritus in the ND Law School and a visiting professor at Ave Maria School of Law in Ann Arbor, Mich. A former amateur boxer, Rice also is the faculty advisor emeritus for Notre Dame’s annual Bengal Bouts, which in 2001 raised $71,000 for Holy Cross missions in Bangladesh. Rice – whose daughter Teresa (’89) was an Academic All-America cross country runner at Notre Dame while another daughter, Patti (’00), also was a varsity runner with the Irish – owns degrees from Holy Cross College, Boston College and New York University. He practiced law in New York and taught at NYU and Fordham before joining the Notre Dane faculty in 1969, specializing in constitutional law, jurisprudence and torts. Rice served eight years as vice-chairman of the New York State Conservative Party, was a 12-year member of the Education Appeal Board of the U.S. Dept. of Education (’81-’93) and served as a consultant to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and to various congressional committees. He also has served as editor of the American Journal of Jurisprudence and has authored several books. A former Marine and retired Lt. Col. in the Marine Corps Reserve, Rice and his wife Mary reside in Mishawaka and are parents of 10 children.

Charlie Sweeney (left), with Johhny Ray and Dave Duerson (right)

CHARLIE SWEENEY – first president and co-founder of the Notre Dame Quarterback Club in 1971 – was founder, editor and publisher of Blue and Gold Fan Newspaper in 1980, served as a lecturer on sports law at the Notre Dame Law School in the early ’80s and founded the Sweeney Law Firm, specializing in injury law. After retiring from his law practice in 1998, Sweeney has served as an assistant football coach at John Adams High School. A scholarship athlete at the University of Dayton, his football coach was former Notre Dame end William “Bud” Kerr while his teammates included current Notre Dame assistant athletic director George Kelly and fellow honorary monogram winner Gerry Faust. His father Chuck Sweeney was All-America end on Notre Dame’s 1937 football team. He and his wife Georgia have six children and five grandchildren.

KEVIN WHITE, one of the most progressive and respected administrators in college athletics, has overseen two of the most successful years in Notre Dame athletics history (see p. 14). A career educator, he previously had been the athletic director at Loras College, Maine, Tulane and Arizona State. In addition to Notre Dame’s athletic and academic accomplishment during the White era, he also has championed the University’s plan to add 64 athletic grants-in-aid over a four-year span (affording every sport the NCAA maximum) and commissioned a facilities masterplan that will provide long-term upgrading of the athletic physical plant. White and his wife Jane are the parents of five children.