By Thomas Sellers Jr.
The Voice of the Trojans.
Dedicated member of the Millington Education Foundation and Mario Reed Foundation, Mark Healy is also known as an assistant coach for the Millington Lady Trojans. The longtime Millington resident and 1980 Millington Central High School graduate is a part of the city’s fabric those those organization and as an employee for the City of Millington.
But at home to wife Sharon and his three daughters Ashley, Amanda and Angela, he’s one of the original “Girl Dads.” A term made popular after the passing of NBA legend Kobe Bryant, Healy has been seen in Flag City mentoring, teaching and cultivating a bond with his daughters for several years.
With his youngest Angela preparing to graduate from The University of Memphis this spring, Healy has continued this service to the youth of Millington through his various roles.
Readers of The Millington Star have taken notice and voted Healy the 2021 Man of the Year.
“Are you sure you’re talking to the right guy here?”Healy asked jokingly. “It’s really kind of crazy to tell you the truth. It’s very similar to the Hall of Fame thing. Growing up you don’t set out to be a part of the Hall of Fame or out to be Man of the Year. You just do things. So it’s a big honor.”
Healy, who sits on the MCHS Athletic Hall of Fame committee, was inducted himself in 2016. Hall of Famer, board member and now Man of the Year, Healy said his best title is husband and father.
“You try to be a good dad and be whatever you can be for your kids,” he said. “You try to do whatever you can to be there for them regardless of what it is — whether its athletics or not. It’s been a mixture with me.
“The oldest Ashley played before she got hurt,” Healy recalled. “My middle one Amanda didn’t. She got involved in other things. Then Angela did play sports. Loving sports like I do made it a lot easier to put two and two together to help them out. It’s been a mixture of being able to translate that even to now.”
Healy serves on the staff of Lady Trojan Softball Head Coach Whitney Horton. The Skipper of Millington wanted to take advantage of Healy’s wisdom of the game and view he had from the Press Box for nearly 30 years.
“I was doing things from a coaching standpoint,” he recalled. “And afterwards I would apologize to Whitney. ‘I’m not trying to coach, I just noticed…’ She said, ‘No you’re fine.’ The next year I started coaching. This is my sixth year now.”
Healy has been serving MCHS in other capacities for much longer. Ironically the daughter who didn’t gravitate to playing on the field helped bring him closer to his calling.
“(Amanda) was the type of baby she always had to be on your shoulder,” Healy reflected. “One day while watching football practice, the sun was directly in her face. So I turned her around to see everything. Then it’s just watching back and forth.
“Even then with the girls, I would go in and watch basketball practice,” he continued. “Back then Kevin McMillan was the head coach. I can sit her right down there at mid-court. The girls would come over and some of them would babysit her.”
Healy realized with the community support the would be able to balance calling games with raising his girls.
“I was able to tie everything together,” he said. “You can still do multiple thing if you’re able to balance it and prioritize it. I’m thankful my wife has allowed me. I’ve been announcing since 1991. I started off doing football and baseball. And I added basketball the second year. I’ve done wrestling, softball. I’ve done the Regional wrestling tournament, Sub-State.”
Just celebrating his 28th year of marriage earlier this month, Sharon was literally a driving force in Mark becoming “The Voice of the Trojans.”
“We started dating in ’89,” he said. “I was still going to games but I just wasn’t doing anything. Tommy Harrison came back, in ’91 after that first year, I came up to him and asked, ‘Hey I would like to be more involved. Is there something I can do?’ He said, ‘Do you have something in mind?’ I said, ‘I would really like to announce.’ He said, ‘That’s great.’”
Healy was replacing teachers and students on the microphone.
“Students were doing it and one night they made a comment with a sarcastic tone ‘There’s another penalty on the Trojans,’” Mark recalled. “The officials warned Coach Harrison if that continued it would be a 15-yard penalty… Coach had it in his mind Healy would be the full-time guy.”
Shortly into his marriage Healy was a painter by trade. Doing the job for more than 10 years, he damaged his wrist. Mark had three months of rehabilitation ahead, so he decided to head off to broadcasting school.
“I couldn’t drive and Sharon drove me and picked me up,” he said. “My first job was at 92.9 playing classic rock and roll.”
Sharon’s career at Baptist Hospital was taking off and is still going strong today. While the Healys established their careers, part of raising their girls has been Mark’s love of sports.
The girls allow him to head to Buffalo Wild Wings on Kansas City Chiefs game days. But youngest Angela attended the 2015 World Series game in Kansas City beside her dad leading to a Royals championship.
As his trio has reached adulthood, Mark has held onto to his connection to MCHS and the other institutions of education in his hometown.
“Millington Education Foundation, I’ve been with the organization since reforming in 2014,” he noted. “I was fortunate enough Leanna Dagen expressed that I might be one of the people willing to serve. We go back a long way Larry and Leanna. She was the one who mention me to them. They asked and I said sure.
“I’m on the board of the Mario Reed Foundation,” Mark continued. “Got involved the very next day after his injury with Wilson Wages and Ken Uselton. Right off the bat we knew what we were in for. We’ve been raising money for that.”
Throughout 2020, Healy has worn several hats from his job with the City of Millington to making sure Trojan Football under the guidance of Chris Michael played 10 games during the middle of a pandemic.
While the pandemic has presented many challenges for the world and the Healys, Mark said one blessing from COVID-19 was allowing him to be a Girl Dad again.
“As far as the high point, being able to spend more time with your family,” he noted. “My oldest daughter lives in Florida now. Went down there in May because she bought a house. She came home in July for her friend’s wedding that she was in. And it turned out to be a three-month stay. Since she was working from home, it didn’t matter where she was working from. She stayed with us until the middle of October.”
Mark is looking forward to more highlights in 2021 with Amanda getting her Master’s in social work from Chattanooga and Angela preparing to graduate with a degree in media relations from Memphis.
“I am extremely proud of them and I’m extremely proud of my wife,” he concluded. “Doctors and nurses have really had it tough since last March. Really tough, they’re shorthanded and if they get sick, who is supposed to step in and take their place. It’s a tough go.”
