Dave “Shoe Ball” McClenny ’49 was a WWII hero whose footprints are preserved at a monument in Belgium honoring American servicemembers. His grandson, Trey McClenny L’25, was recently elected Student Bar Association president at Elon Law in Greensboro.
Clinging to a crewmate on a single parachute, Dave McClenny ’49 plummeted through the skies over Belgium in June 1944.
Moments before, their fighter plane had taken direct hit from German fire.
He aimed their perilous landing on a farm just outside Brussels. McClenny’s feet hit the ground so hard, his boots left an impression in the earth. Upon landing, the lone survivors of a 10-man crew were immediately captured by German soldiers. From a distance, a Belgian farmer watched their descent and hurried to assist. He found only McClenny’s footprints and made a plaster cast to preserve the moment.
Fifty years later, that same patch of ground would become a monument to American servicemembers who helped free Belgium and Europe from Nazi rule.
After the war, McClenny returned to continue studies at Elon University as a star football player and later become a highly respected educator in his hometown of Pikeville, near Goldsboro, North Carolina.
When his grandson, Trey McClenny L’26, decided to study law at Elon University, he carried that legacy with him.
“It was always my grandfather’s dream to pursue a law degree,” McClenny said. “By the time he had a chance, my mom and her sisters were grown, and they would have had to move from Pikeville, so it never happened. But when I decided to go to law school, that put Elon at the top of my list. My grandparents aren’t here, but studying here feels like they’re with me for the journey.”
Leading with purpose
Recently elected president of the Student Bar Association at Elon Law in Greensboro, Trey McClenny leads with values of service-leadership that are family traits. As a first-year student, McClenny represented his class in the SBA and helped the organization adopt a new set of bylaws — the first major update since the law school opened in 2006. He also joined the Education Law Society and serves on a faculty-led subcommittee focused on academic climate and student success.
“My grandparents were both deeply invested in people,” Trey McClenny said. “I learned from them that the best kind of success is shared success.”
His passion for advocacy began long before law school. Trey McClenny studied elementary education at UNC Wilmington and spent five years teaching second, third and fourth grade in Brunswick County Schools. He thrived in Title I classrooms that served low-income families, finding purpose in helping students discover their strengths.
“I wanted my students to reach their full potential,” he said. “Their wins were my wins.”
But teaching also revealed how much policy shapes education.
“I wanted to do more for our schools than I could do from inside the classroom,” he said. “I believe in public schools. They teach more than academics — they teach community and understanding. I want to protect that. Being a lawyer will help me advocate for education in a way that combines both what I know from teaching and what I’ll learn from the law.”
A legacy that endures
Trey McClenny grew up in Pikeville just a few miles from where his grandparents built their life together. His grandfather became a beloved teacher and coach and was elected to the Wayne County Board of Education, where he served eight years as its chair. Though he has only faint memories of his grandfather, Trey McClenny often heard stories from former students and athletes remarking how much his teaching or coaching influenced their lives. His grandmother balanced a banking career with civic leadership, serving on the town board, leading the Lions Club, and volunteering in projects that strengthened their small community. The two shared a deep bond, and Trey McClenny was influenced by her gregarious altruism.
He was later surprised to find that his grandfather hadn’t shared much about his wartime experiences until later in life. About 10 years after the war, Dave McClenny received a letter from the farmer who preserved his footprints and recovered the flight helmet he lost during his descent. From across the Atlantic, he’d tracked him down to let him know about the preservation of the site and small shrine erected there. Statewide news articles at the time described Dave McClenny’s wonder at the discovery.
In 1995, Dave McClenny returned to Belgium with U.S. dignitaries to dedicate a six-foot tall stone stele as a permanent monument to U.S. forces who liberated the country.
As he looks toward his future in law, advocating for North Carolina’s public schools and the students and teachers he once served from the front of the classroom, Trey McClenny sees Elon Law as a place where service and purpose converge — a community that reflects the same values his grandparents lived by. He often thinks of his grandfather’s footprints preserved in Belgian soil, a reminder that courage and compassion leave a lasting mark.
“It’s a privilege to represent my classmates. I want everyone to feel supported; to know they have someone in their corner,” McClenny said. “That sense of belonging matters to me.”