Aug. 28, 2005
Former Notre Dame volleyball player Julie Pierson Doyle (’85) recently began her two-year term as president of the Notre Dame Monogram Club, after serving the previous 12 years on the Monogram Club board in various roles (including board member, secretary, second vice-president and first vice-president). Doyle is the first female to serve as president of the Monogram Club and issued her first address to the membership in the summer Inside Irish newsletter, with those comments included below:
A Message from the President
Fellow Monogram Club Members:
I am honored and humbled to have the privilege of serving the Monogram Club as president for the next two years. When I was contacted over 12 years ago by a friend of a friend seeking volunteers to serve on the Monogram board, I never could have imagined that someday I would end up as president of this organization – but I couldn’t be more proud to represent this club and all of you.
As I stood before several hundred Monogram members and their guests at our 2005 annual dinner, I was struck not just by my own journey with the club, but – more importantly – with the journey and transformation of the club over the past decade. Because of the commitment of thousands of dues-paying members, the board of directors, the Monogram Club staff and the athletic department, the club has significantly expanded its reach while maintaining its roots in college athletics.
Your Monogram Club now administers a scholarship fund, the Brennan-Boland-Riehle fund, valued at nearly $3 million. In the early 1990s, the “BBR” fund was, on average, awarding $25,000 to $35,000 annually to children of Monogram Club members attending Notre Dame. In the 2004-05 school year, the BBR fund was able to award over $300,000 to 45 sons and daughters of Monogram members. The magnitude and strength of the BBR scholarship fund is unmatched among collegiate letterwinner organizations and all Monogram members can take great pride in such an impressive fund.
Over the past several years, the Monogram Club has been able to fulfill our motto – “bridging the gap between legend and legacy” – by providing current student-athletes with monogram awards, laptop computers for travel, funding for international competitions and summer service project sponsorships. As we seek to expand benefits for our members, the Monogram Club now offers receptions before each home football game, free or reduced admission to most home athletic contests (excluding football and men’s basketball), discounted greens fees at the Warren Golf Course and Monogram Club merchandise.
Consistent with the club’s commitment to celebrate our heritage, the Monogram Club board allocated funds at our June meeting for a five-year project that will add banners, photographs and memorabilia display cases to the interior of the football stadium, improving the aesthetics of the stadium and enabling the half-a-million football fans that visit our stadium each year to join us in celebrating the legacy of our national championships, our All-Americans and our Heisman Trophy winners.
It is an exciting time to be part of the Monogram Club and I am especially honored to be the first female to serve as president of our organization. The fact that there is now a female president of the Monogram Club says very little about me, but it says volumes about the strength of women’s athletics at Notre Dame. Notre Dame women’s athletics are a force to be reckoned with. With several national championships under our belt – including this year’s women’s soccer and combined men’s/women’s fencing titles – the outlook is bright.
As the Monogram Club continues its journey, I am hopeful that more women, minorities and young alumni will choose to actively participate in the Monogram Club. This club is for all of us – all who had the distinct honor of wearing the interlocking ND as a student-athlete for Notre Dame, those who supported the teams as managers or trainers and those who have been selected as honorary monogram recipients. The club can only improve as more members become actively involved and your input on how to make the Monogram Club stronger is always welcome. Go Irish!
Julie Doyle
Monogram Club President