| Mark Speckman | |
|---|---|
| Sport(s) | Football |
| Current position | |
| Title | Head Coach |
| Team | Willamette University |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | July 31, 1955 |
| Place of birth | California |
| Playing career | |
| 1972-1976 | Menlo College Azusa Pacific University |
| Position(s) | Linebacker |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1998-present | Willamette |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Awards | |
| 2 Northwest Conference Coach of the Year | |
Mark Speckman (born July 31, 1955) is the head coach for the Willamette University football team in Salem, Oregon, United States. A California native, he was born without hands and played football at the college level. He also works as a motivational speaker. As coach of the Willamette Bearcats he has led the team to three playoff berths at the NCAA III level.
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Mark Speckman was born to Don and Jan Speckman.[1][2] He grew up south of San Francisco, California, in Belmont, as the second child of four.[1] Born without hands, he wore hooks until the age of 15, earning him the nickname of Captain Hook.[1] He convinced his parents that the hooks were not needed, and has never used them since.[1]
After starring as a linebacker in high school, Speckman played football for Menlo, a junior college where he was a starter.[1] He then went on to Azusa Pacific University, playing at the NAIA level.[1] There he earned an honorable mention for All-American at the NAIA classification in 1976,[3] and attention from the tabloid media as the Handless Linebacker.[1]
Speckman took up coaching football after his playing career, first at the high school level.[3] His first head coaching gig was at Livingston High School in 1981, where he introduced the famous Fly offense that is primarily a run-based offense; the fullback and tailback are split behind the quarterback, while the Fly back runs in motion almost every play. His 1982 Wolfpack squad won a share of the Golden Valley League title, missing the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II playoffs by a coin flip. Speckman was picked to coach the 1983 Lions All-Star Football Game, as this would be one of many he would coach in Central California from the early 1980s to the early 1990s. He left Livingston after two seasons to teach and become the head coach at Gilroy High School for the 1983-85 seasons.
In 1986, Speckman returned to Central California as Merced High School's next football coach, a position he held for eight seasons. At Merced, he led those teams to six consecutive Central California Conference titles, including quite a few of those where his teams went undefeated in the CCC. In 1990, Speckman's Bears went 14-0 that earned them the mythical state Division I crown. His 1989 and '90 squads won back-to-back Sac-Joaquin Section D-I titles, and played in six section championship games from 1988 to 1993. During his tenure, his teams received numerous state and national rankings. Speckman left Merced after the '93 season to teach and start the new football program at Golden Valley High School, Merced's second high school.[1] His high school coaching record was 113-48-3.[3] He also worked as a teacher at that time.[1] During 17 years of coaching high school, he also ran a program targeted at helping disadvantaged kids.[4]
In 1995, Willamette coach Dan Hawkins hired Speckman to serve as offensive coordinator and offensive line coach for the Bearcats.[1] Willamette is a small liberal arts college in the Willamette Valley that competes at the NCAA Division III level.[1] When Hawkins left the school to coach at Boise State University in Idaho, Willamette hired Speckman to serve as head coach of the team.[1][3] In 1997, while Speckman was still offensive coordinator, Liz Heaston was one of the teams' kickers, and she became the first female player in college football history.[5]
As Willamette's coach, he has implemented the Fly offense.[1] Speckman is considered one of the top experts on that offense.[3][4] The team has made the playoffs in 1999, 2004, and 2008.[1] After the 1999 season, he was named coach of the year for the Northwest Conference.[6] In 2004, The Oregonian named him one of the 25 most influential figures in sports in the state of Oregon, coming in at 24.[7]
Speckman was considered as a possible replacement for Tim Walsh in early 2007 before Jerry Glanville was hired as the new head coach at Portland State University.[8] In June 2007, Speckman was inducted into the San Mateo County, California, Sports Hall of Fame,[9] and was a finalist for the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year.[10] In 2008, he led the team to a 10-0 regular season, a ranking as high as fourth in Division III, and a first round playoff win.[11] The team lost in the second round of the playoffs to defending champion Wisconsin-Whitewater 30-27, and finished the year 11-1.[12]
Despite having no hands, Speckman does not let this handicap slow him down. He can still write, type, use a cell phone, drive, and play racquetball, and he played the trombone in high school.[1] He uses these aspects of overcoming a handicap in motivational speeches around the state and country.[1]
Speckman and his wife, Sue, have three children, Julie, Lisa and Tim.[3]
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