Players

Jeff Carpenter

Year Inducted: 2002

Category: Players

Schools / Organizations:
(Oak Park) Fenwick High School
The University of Notre Dame

Biography: 

Jeff Carpenter was the first four-year starter at (Oak Park) Fenwick High School, he started every game at point guard. As a senior, Carpenter averaged 19 points and 11 assists per game and was a unanimous all-state selection. Two times he was selected as Fenwick’s MVP. He was an all-America selection as a senior and received the Tony Lawless Award as the Chicago Catholic League MVP.

Carpenter was one of the most heavily recruited players in the state and he chose The University of Notre Dame over DePaul University, Indiana University and The University of Wisconsin. He was a four-year letterwinner for the Irish and played in 99 games. He started the last five games of his freshman year and three in the NCAA Tournament for the first team in school history to make the Final Four. He played on three teams that finished the season ranked in the top 10 by the Associated Press.

In 1978, Carpenter’s team bested 255 others in the school’s legendary Bookstore Basketball Tournament. Carpenter became a resident of River Forest and was an assistant head coach from 1994-98 when Fenwick won two sectional titles and reached the Class AA Elite Eight for the first time in school history.