UWEC Athletics Hall of Fame
The older of the Hicks brothers by more than a year, Mark Hicks played the same four years as Alex and ranks right behind his brother in most Blugold and NCHA records. He played three years of junior hockey with the Calgary Spurs before arriving in Eau Claire as a 20-year-old freshman in 1988. In 115 career games, he scored 83 goals with 122 assists for 205 points. Three times during his sophomore season, he registered a hat trick. He tallied 36 power play goals and 10 game-winning goals. He was a two-time NCHA First Team pick and three times was named to the WSUC Second Team. He was an AHCA Second Team All-American in both 1990 and 1992. Mark was a member of the first Blugold team ever to advance to the NCAA Division III playoffs. The Blugolds lost to eventual national champion UW-Stevens Point in the quarterfinals of the 1989 tourney.
Upon completion of his eligibility, Mark spent part of one season and all of another assisting Ian Perrin as a Blugold coach while he completed his undergraduate degree. He also spent six months playing with the Richmond Renegades and Toledo Storm of the ECHL. In July, 1995, he landed a position as an assistant coach with the North Iowa Huskies Junior A program in Mason City, Iowa, where he resided at the time of his induction. He had been a project manager and lab technician with Heartland Asphalt since 2000 and is a member of the Asphalt Paving of Iowa Specifications and Marketing Boards. Since 2000, he had been the high school coach of the Mason City Youth Hockey program, producing a 151-44-10 record at the time of his induction. His team has won one league title and twice he has been tabbed for Coach of the Year honors. He had been active with the Mason City Youth Hockey program since 1995 and the Mason City Youth Hockey Coaching Director since 1997. He had been USA Coaching Director for the Mid-West Section for two years prior to his induction. He coached team Mid-West in the Chicago Showcase in both 2005 and 2007.
