Mark Olsen enshrined into MIGCA Hall of Fame
Mark Olsen has reached the top of the mountain for golf coaches in Michigan.
Olsen, the former leader of the White Pigeon golf program, was inducted into the Michigan Interscholastic Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame earlier this week. He was one of four members inducted into the Hall of Fame ceremony held at Treetops Resort in Gaylord.
“I don’t like talking about myself, but I was thankful and honored to be nominated and inducted,” Olsen said. “I talked a little about players that believed in the system we had and worked with me. I always appreciated the golfers who wanted to become better golfers, because I think that makes a big difference.”
Olsen was joined by Gary Bucholz of Central Montcalm, Mike Joseph of Hartland and Kim Napieralski of Grand Rapids Catholic Central as the 2022 Hall of Fame class.
This year’s enshrinement activities saw around 15 previous Hall of Famers in attendance as well.
Each of the coaches going into the Hall of Fame also got to pick someone to speak on their behalf. Olsen said he picked Barry Shanley of Lawton, a fellow Hall of Fame member.
“He’s one of my best friends in coaching and he introduced me,” Olsen said.
Jay Sosinski, who took over for Olsen after his retirement from coaching at White Pigeon, was also honored at the event as Coach of the Year for Division 4. Olsen said he was proud of Sosinski for winning the award because it’s clearly a big deal. Olsen himself has won that honor.
“I was happy and excited for him,” Olsen said.
Olsen’s White Pigeon teams piled up a ton of victories during his tenure — 1,023 total to be exact. They claimed 36 tournament wins and went to the state finals eight separate times. Their best finish was in 2014 with the Division 4 state title, the same year saw Olsen voted as the Coach of the Year.
“That was a very good group, the state championship team in ’14 was a lot of fun,” Olsen said. “I had also matured as a coach by that point and I was able to relax more and let things happen. That made it more fun.”
Olsen said many coaches can get kids to come out and play golf. Most coaches can get kids to come out and participate in many sports. But Olsen was able to bring kids into the program that wanted to learn how to play golf and also have success at it.
Some student-athletes play golf in high school for social reasons, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but others are there to compete and be the best they can. Olsen often got the most out of his players and that contributed to their success.
White Pigeon won seven St. Joseph County championships during his time and nine separate conference titles. They racked up four district and four regional titles. Outside of the state title in 2014, the Chiefs also claimed second place in 2009. Olsen won several district, regional and state coach of the year honors during those times as well.
Even with all the accolades, Olsen said without having good student-athletes, none of it would matter.
“I’m most proud of seeing how the kids have grown up and we’ve been able to stay in touch,” he said.
And with each of those teams and players, Olsen had a strong message about growing up and life in general.
“Finishing second in a golf match is not the end of the world,” he said. “Finishing second in a job interview doesn’t get you anything. You want to finish first in those for your careers.”
Olsen’s still a pretty good golfer as well. He’s a limited member at Klinger Lake County Club and also spends quite a bit of time as a member at Sauganash Country Club. All four of his sons — Nick, Jordan, Riley and Chase — are good on the golf course as well.
Get them together and you’ve got a pretty good and competitive event. During his coaching years, Olsen wasn’t able to get many rounds in because of time constraints. Now he’s continuing to improve his game.
He’s also busy in his everyday life as well. Olsen works for the Community Mental Health and Substance Abuse of St. Joseph County.
“It’s a lot like coaching, honestly,” Olsen said. “You get people to believe in themselves and help educate them on what they need to do to better themselves.”
Olsen said helping people in his daily life is now something he strives to be the best at and he’s doing his part.
“I don’t do anything without wanting to be the best I can be, I think most people are like that,” he said. “I want to do the best I can for them, a lot of them have had a rough time. But they also deserve to have somebody show them they are worthy of good things as well. They can get there if they put their minds to it. If you put in the hard work, you can get results.”
This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Mark Olsen enshrined into MIGCA Hall of Fame
