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Young giant aimsI~“ imagine that all of you who read the sports pages have, at one time or another, dreamed of a successful career in a sport — whether it was basketball, baseball, football or whatever.Edgar Allen Foe wrote, “ail that we see orseem, is but a dream within a dream.” So we played little league bail and felt “a dream come true” while still dreaming that we would piay for the Yankees some day.Mark Fauset lived in those same dreams and, more than many of us. succeeded in sports at the college level. Today, 7-foot Mark has a new dream: Professionalwrestling,Mark was born in Roseville. Calif., which is about 20 miles from vSacremento. His father Don is 0-6 and his mother Dorothy is5-11, so there was a very good chance that Mark would be tall. When he entered high school he was 6-9 and when he left he was6-ItMark's father missed a chance at a professional basketball career because of an unfortunate injury But for Mark oasketbali proved to be a winner because his father coached semi-pro baseball and basketball and Mark started working around those teams when he was in the fourth grade and learned the basics.Because he was close to 7-feet tali, Mark was the object of attention in school and ill visiting gyms He suffered through Big Foot” and other slurs, hut helped his team into contention for district titles during his varsity years.When he graduated from high school, he was selected to play with the Sacremento All-Stars and played against some of the nation’s finest high school playersMark tried out for football one spring and worked out with the wrestling team in junior high and high school but his basketballcoach was selfish with his big kid and per suaded Mark to concentrate on basketballWhen Mark entered California State Col-WrestlingBILLMERCERlege-Bakersfield, he was on a basketball scholarship, hut worked out with a former heavyweight wrestling champion from thePan Am Games, who put him on a weight-training program shat helped his roundhailactivity.“That guy could turn me inside out and I knew that someday I would hke tostudy ’he sport, but (I) never had time in college.”Mark said.When Mark’s college coach was fired, the now 7-footer decided to try the sportelsewhere. Ironically, he selected the collegethat had recruited him in high school the University of Hawaii-Hilo He turned them down the first time because of the distancefrom home.For Mark, it was a lucky move to theislands He played under a coach of Japanese ancestry, who was about 5-feet tall, “who was the most positive, optimistic person Ihave ever met.'*The coach had a pre-season workout that included what he called his Indian Mile The team lined up single file and as they ran, the last man ran up to the head of the line and each player followed suit Mark figured he could never run more than a fi 10 mile, hut with his coach’s persistent optimism, Markran a 6-12 time “That little guy gave me more personal confidence than anyone 1 ever worked or played for,” Mark told me as he draped his7-foot frame over a chair in the North Texas State University Union Building.The luckiest part of his move to Hilo was meeting his wife Wendy They make quite a dramatic couple — she is 4-11 and the top of her head comes to Mark's waist They now have a 3-year-old son named Justin One other fortunate moment in Hilo was the opportunity for Mark to play against Patrick Ewing, who was touring the islands with an All-Star team “Boy was he great He showed me now basketball should ne played ' Mark said with obvious respect Mark is currently finishing ms education at NTSU and working on the custodial crew in the Union His brother helped him make the traasition from Hawaii to Denton and now Mark is trying to fulfill a new dream He met Wild West Wrestling promoter and I ’WF Training Center director Ken Mantell who was quickly impressed with Mark's size Mantell told Mark about the strenuous, back-breaking, sometime heart-breaking, work necessary to deoome a professionalwrestler Rut with a strong athletic background, a handsome appearance AND that 7-foot body anything is possible If Markwill work hard.“Wendy just couldn't see me cavorting about a ring with somebody like the Missinglank at first, but after talking with my brother and my dad. who both thought it wasa great idea. Wendy is excited about mytrying,” Mark said, obviously flushed with enthusiasm for the long, hard task ahead So this is the first little chapter about 7 tootMark Fauset as he begins to train on weights, runs that Indian Mile igain and prepares to find out if his quest for a professional career is as Shakespeare wrote “nothing hut vain fantasy, which is as thin of substance as the air and more inconstantthan the wind ’ Or it might he a chance forsome fame and fortune9 til l. MKRCKR i« the wr»*Mlfng ••oluimn*! of he {jeiitnn ord-C :hrontcle.
Newspaper Details
Grapevine Sun
Grapevine, Texas, US
Thu, Aug 13, 1987
Page 14
Full Page
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Anonymous
TN, USA 19 Jun 2019
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