Toughness

Jim Barrett here. I just heard about Mark from my younger brother Mike and wanted to say a few things. Even though I moved to New York in 2004, I haven't seen Mark in many years but have a couple of distinct memories from playing football with him at LA. While Mark was certainly the object of affection for all the young women at Regina, Marillac, New Trier East, West, North, South well, you get the idea, he was tough as nails on the field. I remember our best game senior year was against the eventual state champion, St Rita. It was surprisingly close and Tommy Burns ran the option to perfection. On one play Mark gained around 6 or 7 yards and was laid out by linebacker Mark Zavagnin, All State, Parade All American, Notre Dame recruit. Zavagnin kind of stood over Mark after the pummeling hit, Mark stood up, push him aside, slapped him on the butt and ran back to the huddle smiling. We were psyched, an awesome football experience! Later in the season, as the outsider linebacker, I was having a particularly bad game against Fenwick and the Illinois player of the year, Notre Dame recruit, quarterback Marty Finnan. On one play(there were several), Marty blew past me(I swear I was held!) and broke into the secondary, there was no one there and it looked like I was torched again. No one could ever catch this guy, no one except Mark Rollins. All of a sudden Mark tackles him from behind after about a 20 yard gain. Finnan looked around in shock to see who it was because that never happened. Except with Mark. Besides being a great teammate, he was always friendly to the crazy Chicago kid I was and one of the most all around talented individuals I've ever met. By the way as three year starters, both Mark and Tom Burns deserve to be in the Loyola Academy Sports Hall of Fame. I'm am terribly sorry for the great loss to his friends and family and we will remember him in our prayers.