Kirby Kuklenski

"M" Club Scholarship Fund

Donation Match

The Minnesota "M" Club Class of 1976 features a fine athlete from Wahpeton North Dakota who was recruited by Minnesota to play football.  After 4 years of varsity football and a degree in business , Kirby has gone on to achieve an impressive list of accomplishments in his life and career. He has a wonderful wife and family, has reached world class executive status in his career, and currenty resides in Atlanta Georgia.

Kirby's spirit to give back to his alma mater has resulted in a pledge to match all contributions to the "M" Club Scholarship Fund up to a total of $10,000.00. *

Big thanks go to the following "M" winners who have pledged donations for this great cause:

Terry Matula  Football

Terra Petsinger   Golf

Steve Craine  Football

Jim Marshall  Trainer

Roger Plath  Football

Chuck Swanum  Football/Track

Clark Bredberg  Football

Tom Power  Football

Tom King  Football

Mark Williams Football

Doug Mueller  Football

Ted Harrison  Football

Mike Steidl  Football

Norries Wilson  Football

Brian Snyder  Football

Ezell Jones  Football

Mike Ramerth  Football

Anthony Burke  Football

George Adzick  Football

The M Club Scholarship Fund was originally modeled after the Notre Dame Fund of the very same kind.  Notre Dame's Monogram Club was sighted by the NCAA in 2007 for a compliance infraction which claimed that a scholarship fund for the children of former athletes constituted an unfair recruiting practice.  Notre Dame challenged this finding in court and won the case based on the fact that every student at Notre Dame is given an opportunity to apply for financial assitance based on their financial profile.  This was good news for our purposes until it became clear that as a public institution, Minnesota does NOT grant the opportunity for financial assitance on the basis of need and therefore can not extend a similar advantage to the child of a former athlete.  We are continuing to review this ruling and have some very excellent alternatives for the estabshied principle money raised.  Stay tuned.