By Megan Tady
long before Matt fenlon ’09 attended Springfield College as a sports journalism student, he sent clips of his work to journalism professor Marty Dobrow. Fenlon was a junior in high
school in Chatham, N.J. He had already impressed two local newspa- pers with his sports writing, and had a byline by the age of 15. Soon, he was impressing Dobrow, too. They corresponded for two years before Fenlon even arrived on campus. “I’ve pretty much seen everyone who has come through our
major—and we’ve had absolutely outstanding people—I don’t remember any of them being that focused that young,” Dobrow said. “Both working for a newspaper as a junior in high school and having the initiative to send those clips off to a college professor. I hadn’t seen that before.” Not many people had seen the likes of Matt Fenlon before,
with his combination of fierce drive and enduring patience. His favorite sport to cover was basketball, and if he’d been a point guard himself, he would have gone hard to the hoop, or, better yet, waited around the three-point line, dribbling, watching, waiting for the perfect play to form. He’s got a long game. In November, at the age of 27, Fenlon was
again, he had impressed a lot of people. The Democratic State
Committee voted unani- mously to appoint him
as director. “I’m a naturally ambitious
person,” Fenlon said. “When I wanted to write sports, I got
involved with newspapers. When I wanted to get involved in politics, I found internships and connected with local congressmen.” Changing course
“I’m a naturally ambitious person,” Fenlon said. “When I wanted to write sports, I got involved with
newspapers. When I wanted to get involved in politics, I found
appointed the executive director of the Massachusetts Democratic Party. During his tenure at Springfield College, Fenlon switched his interest from journalism to public policy. He worked his way up from a volunteer holding signs and knocking on doors, to an intern, a campaign staffer, and eventually, to one of the key players helping to get democrats like elizabeth Warren, Deval Patrick, and Richard Neal elected. Just like the days when he mailed newspaper clips to a
professor, Fenlon had done the legwork to get noticed. And once TRIANGLE 1 Vol . 85, No. 1
internships and connected with local congressmen.”
But Fenlon hadn’t always wanted to get involved in politics. He first had his heart set on sports journalism, and he was excelling at the College. He wrote for the student newspaper, and he would take any story he could get his hands on, sports-related or not. “My thinking was: I could take a chance and maybe get a sports story every week, or I could undoubt- edly get a story about something else, which would give me a chance to write and broaden my horizons,” he said. Dobrow, who is still in touch with Fenlon,
says that he was, and is, “just a likable guy.” “He’s someone with a really delightful
personality, the marvelous mix of complete irreverence and absoluter reverence for the most important things,” Dobrow said. “He’s extremely funny, very loyal, an excellent writer, off-the-chart people skills. There’s a
real sense of leadership that emanates from him.” As Fenlon’s journalism career was forming, something
happened to change his course: a commencement speech by the late-Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.). “It almost sounds cliché, but the truth about me getting involved in politics was hearing Kennedy speak,” he said. “I’ll actually never forget it.” Kennedy spoke about the importance of education, and
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