The Man Who Never Stopped Hustling

Mark Marquess was one of those guys you thought might never die.

He was the epitome of energy, enthusiasm, and positive vibes.

The legendary Stanford baseball coach passed away Friday at the age of 78, and the news came as a real shock.

Marquess coached the baseball team at his alma mater for 41 years (1977-2017). He took his teams to the College World Series 14 times and won back-to-back national championships in 1987 and '88, and finished second three times. He retired as the fourth-winningest coach in Division 1 history with a record of 1,627-878-7 (.649), playing in what was then the toughest league in the country. He was National Coach of the Year three times and Pac-10 Coach of the Year nine times.

In 1988, he was also named International Coach of the Year after leading the United States Team to a gold medal at the Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea.

One of the things Mark was most proud of was the fact that of the 60 players he coached who reached the major leagues, 52 earned their Stanford degrees. Quite an accomplishment when you consider that in most years less than 10% of the players and coaches in major league baseball have college degrees.

After retiring, he served as a special assistant to the athletic director at Santa Clara and was a frequent guest speaker at my "Baseball 101" classes for Stanford Continuing Studies.

Mark first came to Stanford in 1965 from Amos Alonzo Stagg H.S. in Stockton, where he had been one of the most highly-recruited athletes in the country as an elite first baseman and quarterback.

 At Stanford he established himself as one of the greatest two sport athletes in school history, alongside Bob Mathias, James Lofton, Ernie Nevers, and other icons.

He was an All-American in baseball in 1967, hitting .404 and leading his team to a third place finish in the College World Series, and a jack-of-all-trades in football, playing quarterback, wide receiver, defensive back, and kick returner.

He strongly believed in the value of participating in more than one sport.

"When I came to Stanford, I knew I wanted to play two sports for four years," he once told me. "Occasionally, a football coach would tell me I'd be a better quarterback if I played football all spring and summer, but I didn't want to give up baseball. And baseball scouts would tell me I'd have a better chance at the major leagues if I gave up football. But it was too much to give up...the excitement of playing more than one sport and the thrill of competing. You get a special feeling from doing it."

Marquess even convinced the Stanford football coaches to hold spring practices on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday so the two-sport athletes could play baseball games on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday.

"So much of what you learn in college occurs outside the classroom," he said. "There are the people you meet and the experiences you have with them. The two-sport athlete gets to see two different worlds. Football is big-time. There's nothing like the excitement of a college football weekend, with the alumni and the big crowds, It's completely different in baseball. There's a different emphasis. You get exposure to two sides of college sports, two groups of people, two sets of experiences. I think that is tremendously valuable."

I first met Mark in 1968, when he was a star on the baseball and football teams and I was a wet-behind-the-ears sportswriter for the Stanford Daily and Stanford Observer. I interviewed him for a story in the Observer. The headline was “He’s a Man Who Never Stops Hustling.” 

The story talked about how Mark ran from the dugout to first base at the beginning of every inning. And his teams maintained that practice and followed that philosophy for 41 years.

Later, when he returned to Stanford as assistant coach and then head coach, and I was sports information director, we became good friends and our wives became good friends. We both have three daughters, and our girls were friends growing up on the Peninsula. 

He was a wonderful guy. A great man, affectionately known as “9”  or "Niner" for the jersey number he wore that was retired following his final game in 2017.

The things I'll remember most about him were his curiosity, his competitiveness and his positive nature.

Whenever we got together for lunch or dinner, or just a gab session in one of our offices, he would pepper me with questions about the department, other teams, coaching changes, our families, local schools, whatever was on his mind. He was always anxious to learn more.

And did he love to compete! He hated to lose, whether it was a Pac-10 baseball game, a football practice drill, or a pickup game of basketball. One of the Stanford coaches used to let a group of us into Maples Pavilion on Sunday mornings to play for an hour. 

If you were guarding Marquess, or being guarded by him, you'd better be ready for some elbows, holds and grabs. He crashed the boards, contested every shot, hustled after every loose ball. Every game was like the Final Four. He was in it to win it, and he was intense. I loved having him on my team.

Mark never had a bad word to say about anybody. Well, maybe occasionally an umpire who blew a call. But he was relentlessly and consistently positive about his coaches, players, opponents, family and friends.

He was beloved in the Athletic Department because of his upbeat personality and his interest in and encouragement of the other sports coaches.

He was something of a dinosaur. He didn't like to use email, so his assistant, Kathy Wolff, had to read his emails to him and help him out on the computer.

When Kathy died, much too young, he established the Kathy Wolff Award to annually recognize a department staff member who displays a passion for Stanford and an ongoing desire to help and support their colleagues.

Quite a fitting gesture for a man whose passion for Stanford knew no bounds and whose support for his colleagues was extraordinary.

He will be sorely missed by the thousands of people whose lives he touched.