Dave Fennell (born February 4, 1953) is a former defensive lineman for the

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Commo ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

. After graduating from the

University of North Dakota The University of North Dakota (also known as UND or North Dakota) is a public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It was established by the Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishment of the state of ...

in 1973, he played for Edmonton from 1974 to 1983, and helped lead the team to five straight

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

championships from 1978 to 1982 as a key member of the " Alberta Crude" defence. Fennell was named CFL Most Outstanding Defensive Player in 1978, CFL Most Outstanding Canadian in 1979, and Defensive Star of the 1978 and 1982 Grey Cup games. He was a CFL and Western All-Star at defensive tackle from 1977 to 1981, and was runner-up for the Most Outstanding Canadian Award in 1980. His nickname was "Doctor Death". Fennell is a member of the

Canadian Football Hall of Fame The Canadian Football Hall of Fame (CFHOF) is a not-for-profit corporation, located in Hamilton, Ontario, that celebrates great achievements in Canadian football. It is maintained by the Canadian Football League (CFL). It includes displays about t ...

and the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame. In November 2006, he was voted one of the CFL's Top 50 players (No. 24) of the league's modern era by Canadian sports network

TSN TSN may refer to: Science and technology * Translin, DNA binding protein involved in microRNA function * Taxonomic serial number, a stable and unique taxonomic serial number issued by the Integrated Taxonomic Information System * The Science Netwo ...

. Fennell earned a law degree from the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

in 1979. After retiring from football, he founded

Golden Star Resources Golden Star Resources Ltd was a Canadian company that owned and operated the Wassa gold mine in Ghana. The company formerly owned and operated the Bogoso-Prestea gold mine, also in Ghana, from 1999 to 2020. Headquartered in London, but with a re ...

which is a mining company that was focused on gold deposits in

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

while he was working there. He was an executive vice-chairman and a director of Miramar Mining Corporation. He is the father of John Fennell, a member of the Canadian

luge A luge is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds supine (face up) and feet-first. A luger steers by using the calf muscles to flex the sled's runners or by exerting opposite shoulder pressure to the seat. Racing sleds weigh for s ...

team at the

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

."Luger John Fennell tells the world he's gay"
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Regina Leader-Post The ''Regina Leader-Post'' is the daily newspaper of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, and a member of the Postmedia Network. Founding The newspaper was first published as ''The Leader'' in 1883 by Nicholas Flood Davin, soon after Edgar Dewdney, Li ...

'', May 28, 2014.

References

External links

Canadian Football Hall of Fame biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fennell, Dave 1952 births Living people Businesspeople from Edmonton Canadian football defensive linemen Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Canadian Award winners Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award winners Edmonton Elks players Lawyers in Alberta North Dakota Fighting Hawks football players Players of Canadian football from Alberta Sportspeople from Edmonton University of Alberta alumni Alberta Sports Hall of Fame inductees