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A proven football administrator with a wealth of experience at the NFL, NFLPA and club level, Lal Heneghan enters his second season as the 49ers Executive Vice President of Football Operations. When Denise and John York and Mike Nolan agreed on the creation of the new position in 2006, they began an extensive search to find a person whose knowledge and organizational skills would benefit the organization in a vast array of areas. In his role, Heneghan oversees all aspects of the day-to-day football operations.
Heneghan most recently served in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns as Vice President, Football Operations and General Counsel from November of 1998 until May of 2004. Over the past few years, Heneghan also has provided consulting services to professional sports and non-profit organizations and said his diverse levels of experience have served him well in his career. I’ve had the opportunity to see how different elements of the NFL operate, Heneghan said. When issues or questions arise, I’ve usually had experience in knowing what people’s points of view are. That’s helped me facilitate solutions to problems that come up and it in turn, gets everyone to work together. With the Browns, Heneghan was responsible for departmental, salary cap and player contract coordination as well as general legal matters. He also oversaw the club’s pro personnel department as well as the medical, equipment, video and player development departments. Prior to joining Cleveland, Heneghan spent seven years with the National Football League Management Council as director of labor relations. In that capacity, he supervised the daily operation and interpretation of the NFL salary cap, the Collective Bargaining Agreement and advised clubs on all aspects of their daily labor operations.
After joining the NFL in 1991, Heneghan initially served as labor relations counsel where he represented clubs in grievance arbitrations and counseled clubs on a variety of labor issues. In 1993, he participated in negotiations with the NFLPA, which resulted in the 1993 Collective Bargaining Agreement. Heneghan’s contributions to the NFL are reflective of his involvement in a broad range of areas, including serving on the NFL Management Council’s Working Club Executive Committee while with the Browns. He remains one of three NFL-appointed executives to serve as a Trustee of the NFL Player Insurance Trust. Previously, Heneghan was a labor attorney at Akin Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld in Washington, D.C. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center. During law school, he worked with the NFLPA in Washington, D.C. Heneghan said a career that combined his two passions sports and law gave him the best of both worlds. When I entered law school I had an interest in combining my interest in law with a career in sports, Heneghan said. I had been able to participate in sports in college and wanted to combine sports into my professional pursuits. I was fortunate that I attended law school with a man who had played in the NFL and was the assistant executive director of the NFLPA (Mark Murphy, an eight-year veteran safety with the Washington Redskins from 1977-84). He introduced me to the people at the union on the legal side and that’s how I got my start.An accomplished college athlete, Heneghan was a tight end and co-captain for the 1984 University of Pennsylvania Ivy League Champion football team. Heneghan said he still applies the same ideals of teamwork and leadership to his professional career today.
Sports in college were helpful because we were part of a new program when I went there. We worked together as a team, and we really felt we were a team that tried to re-establish a winning tradition, Heneghan said. I think that is what goes on at the club level as well. A group that has that commitment can win with each other. Heneghan’s greatest sports achievement was being a part of Pennsylvania’s football team who captured the Ivy League Championship. What he cherishes most was the journey he and his teammates made together to achieve such great success. I think winning the championship as a group was the best feeling I had as a player, Heneghan said. Just the camaraderie we had was great and we had a lot more fun around each other because we won. It wasn’t any particular game, but being part of the team was the greatest thing to me. Born in Rockville, MD, family has always been a big part of his life, stretching even to the origin of his first name. Lal, an Irish family name, is short for Lally which was his father’s name before he emigrated from Ireland to the United States. Heneghan’s wife, Amy, is a pediatrician. The couple has an 11-year-old son, Jack, and a nine-year-old daughter, Lucy. To me family is my most important job, Heneghan said. I grew up in a large family and it’s always been a privilege to be a part of something. | 