mark was an outstanding athlete. in grammar school and high school and for a few years at harvard he played football. he was an outstanding running and defensive back. at harvard he was mainly a defensive back. i recall that he was a star basketball player in grammar school. he was captain of several sports team and he basically led by example. he truly enjoyed playing sports and the team experience. he played for the joy of playing not because he wanted to fulfill someone else's expectations. i think he was happiest, though, when he played rugby. there was a more loose organization because it was a club sport. again, he enjoyed playing for the love of the game.
i still remember that he worshiped ohio state football, woody hayes, and archie griffin. to the extent that he wore 45 a lot of the time (archie griffin's number) and even had these dorky OSU (70's vintage) wrist sweat bands that he wore to practice. and this is around the time that woody punched some michigan player who went out on the osu sideline. somewhere out there is a picture of him at a northwestern game next to archie griffin.