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Terrapins' Fenlon Rewarded For Constant Work

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Nick Williams/The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 14, 2008

TAMPA In Waukesha, Wis. during the late 1970s, an adolescent Joe Fenlon would plug his stereo into the street lamp and listen to music as he dribbled a basketball up and down his street.

He fiercely tried to improve his basketball skills in order to make the Catholic Memorial High School varsity boys basketball team his junior year. He was cut from the team his sophomore year.

Little did he know, practicing daily on his neighborhood street would instill in him a lasting work ethic and passion for basketball that would later spawn a respected basketball program in Florida, mold high school players into college prospects and as of Saturday, put in him in a rare category of coaches to accumulate 500 career coaching wins.

With his team's 65-61 win over Berkeley Prep on Saturday, Fenlon, 47, added another accomplishment to a career that includes 10 district titles, four state tournament appearances and the ultimate respect from his peers. During his 25 seasons at Tampa Prep, Fenlon's all-time record stands at 500-236, giving him an average of 20 wins per season.

"He loves the game and always has," said Chamberlain boys basketball coach Doug Aplin, a long time friend of Fenlon's. "He's as good as any coach around here. He's been good for basketball in Hillsborough County."

Fenlon won't tell you it was the X's and O's that made his coaching career at Tampa Prep successful. He'll tell you it was that little boy in Wisconsin who learned that hard work leads to success.

"Nothing came easy for me," Fenlon said. "If you see me during a game and you want to know why I'm so intense, it was because of that moment. Had I had everything, I could have been lulled into an eye-opening experience."

Average Player, Superior Desire

One of five siblings, Fenlon was influenced by two older brothers who were considered the top basketball players in Georgia during the 1970s. One brother, Bill, went on to play in the Big Ten Conference at Northwestern.

When Joe reached high school however, he didn't receive as much attention for his basketball skills. Because he broke his leg playing on a trampoline his freshman year, he was forced to wear a leg cast for six months and wasn't able to develop his skills at the rate of other players. The following year, his family moved from Georgia to Wisconsin. As far as basketball was concerned, Fenlon saw it as a new beginning.

"No one knew who my brothers were," he said. "I was the new kid."

"He was the littler guy and was our big fan," said Bill Fenlon, now in his 14th season as head coach at DePauw University in Indiana, and who also preceded Joe as coach at Tampa Prep. "He was wrapped up in our success."

Although he was in a new city, he still didn't have what it took to make the varsity team in Wisconsin. Fenlon felt his injury slowed him down.

"From then on, I worked religiously," Fenlon said.

"He was very determined as a kid," said Fenlon's father, Pete.

Bill said he admired his younger brother's passion for the game.

"He always valued the experience of being on a team," Bill said. "His goal was just to make it."

His senior year of high school, Fenlon was offered a spot on the men's team at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, a Division III school. To this day, Fenlon will admit he wasn't the greatest high school player.

"I was a hard-working, average player," he said.

Fenlon's son, Conner, however, has been under the impression his father was more like a McDonald's All-American.

"He always makes it sound like he was the best player to play the game," said Conner, also Tampa Prep's senior point guard. "He has this picture of him going up [to the basket] and he said he's dunking when he's clearly going to get blocked."

A Lasting Legacy

On Aug. 3, 1983, Fenlon graduated from the UW-La Crosse with a degree in English. The following day, he packed his bags and headed south to Tampa to begin work at a fairly new Tampa Preparatory.

It was Carol Chalu, the current athletic director and volleyball coaching legend at Tampa Prep, who hired Fenlon.

"It was a shot in the dark," Chalu said about hiring Fenlon. "You knew he was the kind of guy who was passionate about the sport. He had charisma. Long term, one of the best hires ever."

Fenlon settled into the River Club Apartment complex adjacent to Tampa Catholic that summer, the same complex in which another young coach, Don Dziagwa, also had also moved into.

"I don't know if he's changed much since then," said Dziagwa, now in his 17th season as head coach at Tampa Catholic. "I've always thought of him as a very, very good coach."

Fenlon didn't win a district title until 1994, his 10th season. Years later, a young player named Casey Sanders grew under his guidance and led the Terrapins to three state tournament appearances and two state runner-up finishes between 1997 and 1999. Fenlon was named The Tampa Tribune's Hillsborough County Boys Coach of the Decade.

Sanders went on to play at Duke for Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski. He is Hillsborough County's second all-time leading scorer with 2,441 career points.

"No one yelled at me more than Fenlon, but in the end, he always cared," Sanders said. "I played for a legend, but there's nothing like your first coach. He's the only coach. I call him Coach, but he's like a best friend to me."

Current players feel honored to have played under Fenlon, now director of Tampa Prep's middle school.

"To be able to play for him and just be mentioned among the players he's coached is an honor," said senior forward David Waller, who helped lead the team to the 2A state semifinals last season. "He's an intense coach, but then he's just this real, cool guy."

To one player in particular, he'll always be a hero.

"I learned never to give up," Conner said. "He taught me a lot about the game of basketball. I'd like to be a coach someday, like him."

After his team's win on Saturday, Fenlon sprinted to his parents, who had traveled from Dallas to witness the event, and squeezed them. He then stood at center court with his wife, Cindy, daughter Mychael and son Conner.

As long as his passion for the game exits, which won't run out anytime soon, Fenlon said he will continue to coach. Rather than being remembered for 500 career wins or trips to the state tournament, Fenlon would rather be remembered as a coach who taught his players to believe in themselves, just like he learned to believe in himself back in Waukesha.

"If there is nothing else to instill in a kid, it's hard work," Fenlon said.

Reporter Nick Williams can be reached at (813) 865-4848 or nwilliams@tampatrib.com.

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