Georgetown University Athletics

Fenlon Inducted to Athletics Hall of Fame

11/16/2019 9:00:00 AM

THE GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS DEPARTMENT celebrated one of its most seminal figures on Thursday night as longtime men’s basketball academic coordinator MARY FENLON was inducted into the ATHLETICS HALL OF FAME. Fenlon was the first hire made by Hall of Famer John Thompson Jr., when he took over the men’s basketball program in 1972. With just three assistant coaching positions permitted, Thompson hired two assistants to focus on basketball and one to handle academics – and that one was Mary Fenlon.

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Back then I knew it was ridiculous for an INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION not to have a person who would be responsible for coordinating academics in the face of the great DEMANDS AND PRESSURES generated by a Division I program. Since our expectations were to build a successful program, it made sense to BUILD OUR ACADEMIC FOUNDATION at the same time we were building our ATHLETIC FOUNDATION.

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JOHN THOMPSON JR.

Fenlon spent 27 years as the BACKBONE OF A PROGRAM that saw overwhelming success winning the 1984 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP, appearing in three FINAL FOURS, making 25 POSTSEASON appearances including 20 in the NCAA TOURNAMENT and capturing six BIG EAST TOURNAMENT TITLES. However, it was the achievements in the classroom that made Fenlon the INSPIRATION she continues to be today. During her time on the Hilltop, student-athletes who stayed all four years maintained a 97 PERCENT GRADUATION RATE and Georgetown’s Ya Ya Dia was the program’s first BIG EAST Men’s Basketball Student-Athlete of the Year.

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She was like a parent. She was like a MOTHER FIGURE – even though we all had mothers – but she was our mother figure here on campus. Because of her and the WORK ETHIC that she showed us, we were able to be SUCCESSFUL after leaving here.

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HEAD COACH PATRICK EWING

Fenlon often said she was simply executing Thompson’s demand that all members of the Georgetown basketball program EMPHASIZE THEIR EDUCATION.

“John has a great belief that he wants to make every youngster that comes through here very much RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR OWN EDUCATION,” Fenlon said in a rare interview. “Sometimes education – at that point when you’re young – you don’t know the VALUE OF WHAT IS BEING GIVEN TO YOU. And he wants to make sure that that’s always constantly hammered into them.”

A stalwart in her role behind the scenes as well as on the Georgetown bench, Fenlon described her position as one of the FIRST ACADEMIC COORDINATORS in the country to be “common sense.” If Georgetown was “asking the students to spend so much time in practice, traveling and at games” then the University must also check how they were PROGRESSING ACADEMICALLY because “there has to be something to BALANCE the TIME DEMANDS made by basketball.”

Perhaps even more famous than Fenlon herself is the lore of MARY'S BOOK – the book in which student-athletes had to log their weekly progress.

"Coach Thompson’s vision for GEORGETOWN BASKETBALL was that it would be a place where we would achieve ATHLETIC EXCELLENCE and ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE. But the way in which that vision came alive was through the work, every day, of Mary Fenlon.”

JOHN J. DEGIOIA, University President

She joins Lorry Michel as the only two females from the men’s basketball program inducted into the Georgetown Athletics Hall of Fame, both hired by John Thompson Jr. Fenlon is the only female to serve as an assistant coach for USA Basketball at the Olympics as she was brought on by Thompson when he was named the head coach at the 1988 Summer Olympics.

Fenlon was honored during halftime of the Georgetown vs. Penn State men’s basketball game on Thursday evening. Fenlon’s family members accepted the Hall of Fame medal on her behalf, as she became the 41st inductee from the men’s basketball program, and the fifth non-player.