SUNY Potsdam Athletics

Mark Nourse was the 10th All-American in the history of SUNY Potsdam's wrestling program. He dominated the mats for the Bears for most of two seasons until an unfortunate injury cut his career short.
 
Nourse, an Erieville, N.Y. native, was a three-sport athlete at Cazenovia High School where he competed in soccer, football and wrestling. It was in wrestling that he dominated. Nourse's two older brothers, Jeff and Craig, were also wrestlers and he served as the team manager while in elementary school. He developed a winning mentality early.
 
"I am a sore loser," said Nourse. "If I lost, it didn't just ruin the night. It stuck with me for days and weeks. I just wanted to be the best, wanted to win at all costs. I knew what I had to do to get to that point. You had to put the extra work in and have the mindset that you were better. 'Going on to the mat there's no way I'm going to lose. This guy doesn't know what he's in for. When the whistle blows, it's 100 mph.' You either pin him or win the decision, but losing was not an option. That's the mindset. I learned that at Caz High School. We had a great program and a great coach. We had a lot of talented, tough, hardnosed farm kids that hated to lose. That rubbed off on me."
 
Nourse's drive made him an elite high school athlete and a coveted college recruit. At Caz he posted a program record 112-9 mark with 68 pins. Nourse won the Section III title all four years in high school.
 
With graduation looming, Nourse considered his college options. Academics, affordability and wrestling program success drew him to Potsdam.
 
"It was a good fit at the time," Nourse said. "Once I got there, the rest fell into place with the wrestling team. I got along well with all the guys and the coach and it worked out well."
 
Nourse quickly realized a strong camaraderie with his Bears teammates.
 
"We hung out together," Nourse said. "We lived together in the same suite. We spent a lot time in the wrestling room together. If we went out to an event, the wrestling group stuck together. It was like a fraternity, a wrestling fraternity. The guys always got along. Wrestling is a sport that is one of the most demanding. Not only from a work and practice perspective, but also we had to manage our weight classes. Sometimes when you go without food you can get a little nasty. You know the hunger pains."
 
When he finally hit the mats in preseason, Nourse made an immediate impression on his coaching staff and fellow grapplers.
 
"Nobody really knew what I was capable of in terms of performing," said Nourse. "Once I got into the wrestling room, there were a couple of guys there that were upperclassmen and we started having wrestle-offs. I think there were a couple seniors that ended up getting bumped. Some of the other upperclassmen and captains had been together for four years and when a freshman comes in and performs well, that opens some eyes."
 
When the 1980-81 wrestling season started, Bears Hall of Fame Coach Neil Johnson and his team knew they had powerful new weapon in Nourse and he was going to give his opponents an education.
 
"I remember the first two matches," Nourse said. "In high school you had the idea that you'd have both easy matches and real tough competitive matches. The first impression in college, they were all tough matches. Of course you'd record a pin here and there, but the competition level was the first thing that stood out in my mind. The butterflies went away after the first few matches. You got a feel for what the competition was. You settled into the week-to-week deal and getting ready for who you're going to face. It didn't matter who. You had to take care of your own business first. Stay in shape. Make weight and be ready."
 
As a freshman, Nourse compiled an impressive 15-5 record. At the SUNYAC Championships at Brockport on Feb. 13-14, he battled his way into the SUNYAC title match at 134 lbs. In the final, Nourse faced future Olympian Andy Seras from SUNY Albany. Seras rallied late and won the title, 11-8.
 
"I should have won and lost in the last two seconds," said Nourse. Those are the ones that stick with you. The really tough ones. Two seconds left and I got reversed. That's why you've got to go right to the end of the match."
 
Despite the defeat, Nourse still earned his way into the national tournament at John Carroll University. Against the best competition in the country, the freshman battled his opponents and injury.
 
"I wrestled with a chipped bone in my right ankle, which kind of bothered me," Nourse said. "I think it happened in the first match. I rolled and my ankle it was all black and blue. I had to have it taped up, which was pretty tough, but I was able to hang in there enough to get the No. 8 spot, which was All-American. I was happy with it. I wished I could have done better, but I did the best I could under the circumstances."
 
With a successful first season under his belt, Nourse was extremely confident in topping the performance as a sophomore. He raced out to an 8-2-1 mark during 1981-82 and faced Oneonta's Ed Dessables in the SUNYAC consolation finals at 142 lbs. He was beating Dessables before a fluke injury ended his wrestling career.
 
"It was all because the kid (Dessables) had a bloody nose," said Nourse. "They brought a water bottle out on the mat and he spilled water. I went to do a throw and I hit the spot where the water was. My feet went out from under me. The kid was vertical with his shoulder right at my chest. The first thing to hit was my shoulder blade. That tore my sternum. I was in the hospital in Oneonta for two or three days. It took six months or better for me to heal from that. I had to wear corset to draw it together so it would heal. With a tear there's a lot of scar tissue. It was extremely painful for a long time and honestly I still have trouble with that to this day. That's the last match I ever wrestled for Potsdam."   
 
Nourse's performance over the course of the season earned him another shot at nationals, but he was physically unable to compete. Johnson, who had coached two Bears to national championships, is certain the injury cost him a third.
 
"I had that same belief too, but I tried not to dwell on it," said Nourse. "Those things happen. You don't get injured if you're sitting on the sidelines."
 
With his own wrestling career over, Nourse did continue with the sport as a coach. He served as an assistant for several seasons at Chittenango and Cazenovia High Schools, as well as with the peewee wrestling program.
 
Nourse who is a successful contractor, began his career even before he arrived at Potsdam.
 
"My brother Jeffery graduated from high school in 1977," said Nourse. "We wanted a pool for graduation so we bought a kit and we did it ourselves. The guy that we bought the kit from thought that we did a good job and asked if we wanted to work from him. That's what we did in the summer so I had some bank to go to college. After a few years we looked at each other and said 'We're doing all the work and he's getting the bulk of the money. What's wrong with this picture?' It was kind of a no-brainer so we started Nourse Brothers Custom Pools."
 
In 1989, he began Nourse Brothers Contracting, which covers everything from new construction, remodeling, shoring up buildings to aerobic septic systems. That same year he married his wife Stacia, who he'd met awhile earlier playing paintball.
 
"There was a place here locally where we played paintball and that's how we met," Nourse said. "She shot me right in the nose, while I was looking out around the corner of a tree."
 
It was an interesting start to a great partnership. Stacia is a Biology and earth science teacher at Cazenovia with doctoral and administrative degrees. She also played college basketball at Morrisville State. She and Mark have two children, Chris and Lindsey. Both children inherited their parents' athletic genes.
 
Chris, now 25, played in 49 games as a starting defender for the Georgetown Hoyas men's lacrosse team. As a senior in 2013 he was a finalist for the prestigious Tewaaraton Award for the nation's top lacrosse player. He also played basketball and football at Caz High School. Lindsey, 23, just graduated from Bucknell in May where in addition to her academics she also played on the club volleyball team. Both Nourse children work in commercial real estate investment.
 
Potsdam was fortunate to have Nourse return to campus in the summer of 2013 for the Bears wrestling programs' 50th anniversary. While there he was able to visit with Johnson as well as his friends and former teammates Kregg Bruno (Bears Hall of Famer) and Rich McAllister. He noticed some definite changes to the group as a whole, but that a lot had stayed the same.
 
"There was a lot less hair and we were a lot fatter," said Nourse. "Didn't recognize a lot of them. I hadn't seen them in 25 years, but going over to coach's house it was just like a family. Just like wrestling is. It's a long season, five to six months. You're in the wrestling room every day for hours. You get to know them and Coach Johnson. He looks good. He hasn't changed a lot. He's still got the same Positive Mental Attitude. And that rubs off."
 
Like many of his predecessors and successors, Nourse is just another of the many examples of Potsdam student-athletes that were driven to succeed in their sport and carried that drive into a successful life after Potsdam.
 

L-R: Athletic Director Jim Zalacca, Mark Nourse and Fellow Hall of Famer Kregg Bruno.