After graduating from the University of North Dakota in 1973, he played for Edmonton from 1974 to 1983, and helped lead the team to five straight Grey Cup championships from 1978 to 1982 as a key member of the "Alberta Crude" defence.
He was a CFL and Western All-Star at defensive tackle from 1977 to 1981, and was runner-up for the Most Outstanding Canadian Award in 1980.
24) of the league's modern era by Canadian sports network TSN.
After retiring from football, he founded Golden Star Resources, which is a mining company that was focused on gold deposits in Guyana while he was working there.
He is the father of John Fennell, a member of the Canadian luge team at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.