Alumni Spotlight: Mark Reuss -
1974 Ridley Graduate; Team Captain
College: Towson University 1978; Team Captain
Honors: Ridley Old TimersQ: Give us a little update about yourself (What have you been up to:
A: Wow.. a lot of years have gone by since my last high school lacrosse game. After Ridley, I went to and played lacrosse at Towson University and was voted captain my senior year. After Towson I became a teacher, administrator and coach at St. Paul's School and also coached lacrosse at Towson University. During this timeframe I was a Naval reservist and days after Sept 11th I was recalled to active duty. On active duty I served as the personal security advisor for the Secretary of the Navy and other high-ranking senior military members. I was the chief of interrogation operations in Iraq and one of the senior investigators for GTMO, Cuba. I retired as a Commander and now work for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) as a protective service agent and firearms instructor. I have been married for 34 years and have 2 grown children who live and work near us.
Q: When did you first start playing lacrosse & who got you started?
A: When I was in 9th grade at Ridley South. If a sport was not offered in the Jr. High a student could play that sport at the high school. So, each day I would walk up to Ridley and play lacrosse. My Uncle played at Drexel and I always looked up to him so he was the impetus for me playing.
Q: What was your experience like while playing for Ridley?
A: We were just starting and lacrosse was not well known at the time in PA and certainly not at Ridley. We went through some growing pains, but we all worked hard and had the Ridley work ethic.
Q: What is your favorite memory (or memories) while playing for Ridley?
A: My son's middle name is Wilson for Jack Wilson the head coach at the time. Coach Ellers was the assistant and to this day he and I are very good friends. Each season both coaches came to one of my games at Towson and I was proud to look in the stands and see them watching. They were and are very special men in my life and the reason I even went to college.
Q: Are you still involved in the game? When is the last time you played lacrosse?
A: I am still involved in lacrosse as a NCAA official. I aspire to be like my buddy and fellow Ridley grad Mike Hyland who is an excellent official. I stopped playing when I made it to the last cuts with the Philadelphia Wings and decided to stick with coaching and officiating.
Q: Looking back, what’s one thing you took with you that you learned from playing Ridley Lacrosse?
A: As I mentioned earlier we were just starting lacrosse at Ridley. We were not very good, but, the team, players, coaches and school all wanted to get good and reach our goals. Ridley had and I hope still has a rough, tough, and blue-collar type mind set so we made it happen. Ridley got good and many obtained their goals.
Q: What advice would you give to a future or current Ridley Lacrosse player or parent?
A: Players listen to your coaches, and share and cherish quality time with your team.
Parents watch the games, enjoy the games and let the coaches-coach, the officials-officiate and allow your kids to be kids.
1973 Ridley Lacrosse - Mark Reuss #20
