Marenna is the second of two distinguished candidates in the 2018 Hall of Fame class. He was a four-year member and three-year letter winner on the football team despite never playing the sport prior to attending Norwich. He served as a fullback on the 1970 team that went 7-1 and has been inducted into the NU Hall of Fame as a team.
During his junior and senior seasons, Marenna was the starting fullback for head coach Joe Sabol. One of the highlights of his athletic career came as a senior when he earned Player of the Week plaudits for his efforts against archrival Middlebury College. He won the prestigious Garrity Award for his exemplary leadership, athletic and academic prowess as a member of the NU Corps of Cadets.
“I’m really grateful to my all teammates who went to bat for me to be able to have this opportunity while celebrating our 45th reunion at Homecoming,” Marenna said. “I had to come a long way after not playing football in high school because my parents wouldn’t sign the papers to let me. I had to be shown how to put the pads on when I got here. I just had a desire to see if I could play the game and play it well.”
After graduating, Marenna went on to an accomplished military career with active-duty assignments in Berlin, Germany; Fort Huachuca, Arizona; Fort Benning, Georgia; Fort McClellan, Alabama; Los Angeles, California; and Washington, D.C. He also had special assignments working the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles, as well as the 1985 Presidential Inaugural Committee in Washington, D.C. He was awarded the Joint Commendation Medal and the Joint Service Achievement Medal. He completed 25 years of combined active and reserve service, retiring with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1998.
Marenna went on to work with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in Bethesda, Maryland. While with the NGA, he served as the security manager in charge of an armed guard force and day-to-day security operations for that government organization. He finally retired from government service in March 2015.
Marenna has been a key leader in the Class of 1973’s fundraising efforts during the last three homecoming events. He has helped improve class Homecoming participation, giving percentage and total gift amount in each of the last three homecoming reunion years.
Marenna was married to his wife, Melanie before she fell ill with cancer and passed away in 2015. They had six children; Matthew, AJ, Samantha and Victoria (triplets); as well as Amanda and Benjamin. AJ graduated from Norwich in 2013.
He lives in Bel Air, Md.
