Inductees
Mark Black
Year: 2016
Gender: Male
About Mark:
At Claremont High School, Mark was a three-year letter winner in wrestling and a two-time San Antonio League Champion. He was also a football letterman, selected as an All-League defensive back. Black wrestled at UCLA where he was the Most Improved Wrestler in 1971-72 and earned a career record of 75-25. He placed 3rd in the Pac 8 Conference in 1974 and 4th in 1975, wrestling in the Division 1 Finals in Iowa and at Princeton in those years. In international competition, Mark was a National Champion of USA Veterans Greco and Freestyle. He wrestled level C, D, and E at 167.5 pounds and 187.5 pounds seven times from 2000-13.
He was 3rd in the 2007 FILA World Championships at Istanbul, Turkey. Mark has been the wrestling coach at Santa Monica High School since
1975, with a dual match record of 269 win versus 115 losses. He sent six wrestlers to the CIF-SS Masters in 2004, with seven State Qualifiers from 2004-10, including State Champion Yousef Syed in 2007. In 1976-77, he assisted Dave Auble at UCLA, and in 1981-82 he assisted Tom Hazell at El Camino College. He has coached in USA Nationals, World Team Trials and Olympic Trials, USA Cadet and Junior Women’s Nationals, Women’s Body Bar, Western Junior Regional Greco and Freestyle, Men’s Veteran Greco and Freestyle, and Veterans Men’s World Championships. Since 2013, he has been an Assistant Coach with Marcie Van Dusen-Lane and the Titan Mercury Wrestling Club. He also coached at Simon Frasier, Canada, USA Open, with Elite Women and for USA High School Nationals.
From 2004-08, he coached Hana Askren, a 4-time USA Women’s All-American, in World Team Trials and in Olympic Trials, plus Jazzy Green, a 2-time Girls’ State Champion. Black founded the Santa Monica Bay Wrestling Club in 1990 and has served as a coach since then. He was a founding member and still serves as a consultant to the board of Beat the Streets, a sports-based youth development movement that has started 28 sustainable wrestling programs in Los Angeles County, mostly at LAUSD junior high schools. Mark has also worked with Mike Moyer of the National Wrestling Coaches Association to coordinate a meeting of PAC 10 athletic directors and wrestling coaches to consider the importance of wrestling in their athletic programs. He coordinated the practice venue in 2014 and 2015 for Team USA at Santa Monica High School in preparation for the Freestyle World Cup at the Forum in Inglewood.