Department of Intercollegiate Athletics Award Recipients

Friends of Marquette Athletics Award

Pamela B. Klumb and Dennis M. Klumb, Jr., Arts ’84
East Troy, Wis.

For as long as Dennis can remember, he has been hooked on Marquette University men’s basketball. Today, he and Pamela, are longtime season-ticket holders and have established an endowed athletics scholarship fund at Marquette.

Dennis’ obsession with the Blue and Gold started young, when Dennis’ uncle took him to a Marquette game. “As a result,” Dennis says, “Marquette became my dream school.”

A self-described “blue-collar kid who worked hard for my grades,” Dennis says he achieved his dream of attending Marquette. While working on his degree in political science, he and his roommate were unable to score tickets to a highly anticipated 1982 game against No. 1-ranked DePaul University slated for national broadcast with retired coach Al McGuire returning to the Milwaukee Arena. “This was the game of the year,” Dennis recalls. “We were not going to miss this. Therefore, we devised a plan to sneak into the game by walking in with the band, and it worked.”

Dennis went on to earn a juris doctor from Mitchell Hamline School of Law and practiced in Los Angeles for several years before joining his family’s business, Arby Construction, which they later sold to Quanta Services. In 2005 Dennis started KS Energy Services, LLC with his father, three brothers and Tom Schaitel, a colleague from Arby. The company provides underground construction and technical services to utilities and today has annual revenues of $260 million.

Pamela, shares Dennis’ passion for Marquette basketball, and the two have been season ticket holders since 2009. She is a CPA in their hometown of East Troy, Wis.

In 2011 the couple endowed the Dennis Jr. and Pamela Klumb Athletics Scholarship fund for first-time college students. They have also co-chaired the Blue & Gold Fund Auction Committee for three of the past four years.

“We have always been taught to give back through volunteerism and philanthropy,” Dennis says, adding that he and Pamela define success, in part, by whether one has made a difference in the lives of others.

Fun fact: Dennis and Pamela’s latest investment adventure, along with some friends, is a restaurant in Napa, Calif.