Mark Mulvoy

Mark Mulvoy (born August 16, 1941) is an American sports journalist and writer. He covered sports part-time for The Boston Globe while attending Boston College, then full-time after graduating. Initially hired by Sports Illustrated to cover baseball, he became a ghostwriter for Jack Nicklaus's golf column. Reporting on ice hockey beginning with the 1967 National Hockey League expansion, Mulvoy was the first American journalist to cover ice hockey in the Soviet Union including on the 1972 Summit Series. He also published multiple books on sports, including basketball, curling, football, golf, and ice hockey.

With Mulvoy as managing editor of Sports Illustrated from 1984 to 1995, the magazine received National Magazine Awards and profits more than quadrupled. He established Sports Illustrated Kids for a younger audience, began the Golf Plus insert to cater to an older audience, implemented commemorative issues for special events, and expanded the swimsuit issue and made it into an annual special edition. He held the dual role of publisher and managing editor from 1990 to 1992, and retired after coverage of the 1996 Summer Olympics. In 2023, he received the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award for ice hockey journalism as chosen by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association.

Early career in Boston Mulvoy was born on August 16, 1941, in Boston, Massachusetts, to parents Thomas and Julie Mulvoy, in a family of three boys and one girl. Mulvoy and his brother played hockey by their apartment in Dorchester. As a youth, Mulvoy was a caddie at Wollaston Golf Club. He wrote for Boston College undergraduate newspaper, and aspired to cover the Boston Red Sox. He occasionally wrote about the Bruins in lieu of Tom Fitzgerald, He opined that "nobody realized the Russians were as good as they were". No longer overseeing the weekly magazine, Mulvoy focused on SI for Kids and SI Presents. Sports Illustrated Curling: Techniques and Strategy (1973), with Ernie Richardson Face-off at the Summit (1973), with Ken Dryden My Game (1974), with Bobby Orr Overtime!: An Uninhibited account of a Referee's Life in the NBA (1975), with Richie Powers Golf: The Passion and the Challenge (1977), with Art Spander Great Moments In Sports (1981) Sports Illustrated Golf (1983), with Heinz Kluetmeier Happy to be Alive (1983), with Darryl Stingley Golf: Play Like a Pro (1988)

Honors and reputation Mulvoy became a media member honoree at "The Tradition" in 2004, the third annual induction ceremony for The Sports Museum of New England based in Boston.

PHWA president Frank Seravalli felt that Mulvoy was "hockey's best friend at a time of critical period of growth for the sport", and that "even when interest in the sport was waning, he kept hockey at the forefront". Sports Illustrated writer Michael Farber described Mulvoy as "an angel on the shoulder of the National Hockey League—but he was also a thorn in its side", and that "he shepherded tough, tough stories". Early in Mulvoy's career with Sports Illustrated, editor Gary Valk opined that "one reason Mulvoy gets along so well with athletes is that in temperament and life style he closely resembles the people he writes about–he is tall, energetic and effusive, and well-dressed".

Personal life Mulvoy is married to Patricia, and has two daughters and two sons. His brother, Thomas F. Mulvoy Jr. was once managing editor of the Boston Globe. Mulvoy has residences in Rye, New York, and Vero Beach, Florida. In retirement, he planned to teach journalism, and compete in amateur golf. He has golfed with presidents of the United States, competed in the 1999 U.S. Senior Amateur Championship, and is a member of five golf clubs, including the John's Island Club in Vero Beach, the Pine Valley Golf Club in New Jersey, The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews in Scotland, and Ballybunion Golf Club in Ireland.

First visiting Vero Beach to interview Pete Dye for a book in 1973, Mulvoy became a resident of the city. He had a golf handicap of 3.4 as of 2015, and became president of the Society of Seniors for amateur golfers in 2009. He led efforts for the Treasure Coast to host its first United States Golf Association national championship, the 2015 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship hosted at John's Island Club. He previously obtained for the club hosting duties of a Florida Mid-Amateur championship, a Florida Open golf tournament, and multiple U.S. Open qualifying events.