St. Clair Shores honors 1980 Olympic Team member Mark Wells with rink dedication

 

By Stefan Kubus –

He left a local inspiration and came back a national hero.

And when the St. Clair Shores city council voted to name one of the two rinks at the St. Clair Shores Civic Arena after him upon his return in 1980, it was an overwhelming honor.

But it never happened.

And a man who should have been deeply embedded into the city’s youth hockey program all along was left embarrassed to show his face around the very arena he grew up in.

Mark Wells was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team that famously defeated the Soviet Union at Lake Placid in what became known worldwide as the Miracle on Ice. Thirty-four years later, on Saturday afternoon, Wells finally received the honor he was set to receive all along.

“To be honored today is one of the proudest moments of my life,” Wells said.

Hundreds poured in the newly-named Mark Wells Arena (formerly the Olympia rink) inside the St. Clair Shores Civic Arena to watch the dedication ceremony. Mayor Kip Walby said this was something that absolutely needed to happen, not only for what Wells has contributed to the game of hockey and the city, but to also right one terrible wrong.

“We grew an Olympian out of this rink, and it should be known that we’ve got a gold medalist from St. Clair Shores and he skated right out of this rink.”

When Wells received a phone call from Walby two weeks ago about the idea, he was left stunned.

“That phone call will never be forgotten,” Wells said.

The dedication idea originally began as a way to simply honor Wells in the city’s Memorial Day parade, but eventually evolved into bestowing the honor of naming the rink after him. Walby was the driving force behind finishing the job and investigating what happened back in 1980.

“In politics, you sometimes think you get positives and negatives on almost all issues, but truthfully, I didn’t get one negative, all entirely positive,” Walby said.

The big question surrounding the entire event is why the dedication never happened in the first place like it was intended to. Walby was able to recover old notes from the city council and mayor – all of which are unfortunately deceased now – and found that, on paper, Wells was honored and the rink was named after him, though it never actually occurred. The mayor said he isn’t sure what held up the process back then, but was just glad he could finally make it happen.

“It’s a culmination of 34 years, just finishing a task that started back in 1980 and it feels good in the spirit way down deep,” Walby said.

Wells, too, wondered what went wrong, and it certainly weighed on him heavily, but it just wasn’t in his character to ask why.

“I wasn’t the type of person to sit back and say, ‘Why me? Why this? Why that?’ I’m just not that type of person to sit and complain; I move on in life, no matter what. I fight a disease, I move on. They didn’t name the building after me, I move on.”

Not only that, but Wells donated a stick to the city signed by the entire 1980 U.S. Olympic team when he returned from Lake Placid, but that stick is currently nowhere to be found.

“We are looking for that stick,” Walby said. “We can’t find it, and we are absolutely in pursuit of that stick. It belongs in Civic Arena, it belongs here and we would like it back. I believe when Mark, and he would say this, gave the stick, he gave it to the city.”

In hindsight, not only having played for the most famous hockey team in one of the greatest sporting spectacles of all-time, but representing the state of Michigan and city of St. Clair Shores in the process made it that much more special for Wells.

“Hockey is still in my blood, I’ve played since I was four years old,” Wells said. “Being back here today is one of the best days that I can actually say for hockey and myself. For personal goals, I’m going to do the best I can to help this organization, St. Clair Shores the city as far as raising money for young players.”

Before he made Olympic history, Wells was a prolific scorer at Bowling Green State University – where he also played with U.S. Olympic teammate and Flint native Ken Morrow. In fact, he racked up 232 points in 154 CCHA games playing under legendary head coach Ron Mason. But when it came to the Soviet Union in the Olympics, U.S. head coach Herb Brooks had Wells on the ice as a defensive specialist to shut down the mesmerizingly gifted Soviets.

Wells poked some fun at the fact that the 1980 team was mostly from Minnesota.

“Knowing that I was one of the only ones from Michigan, I almost felt trying out for the Olympic team that there was some disadvantage,” Wells said with a laugh. “Not only was the coach from Minnesota, but the majority of the players that even tried out for the team were from Minnesota and then from the prominent eastern schools.”

After coming back from the Olympics, Wells – a Montreal Canadiens draft pick – pursued professional hockey, but bounced around the minor leagues before retiring in 1982. From there, he entered the restaurant business, managing a local Ram’s Horn, and after never receiving the due honor from his city, things only worsened for Wells.

He soon found out he had a rare back disease that affected his spinal cord. His case evolved into something so strong that he was bed-ridden for eight years and his main focus shifted from playing hockey or managing a restaurant to just learning how to walk again. He was even forced to sell his gold medal via auction in order to fund his medical treatment.

Wells is in the process of writing a book that documents his roller coaster-like journey, with the main message being that “nothing is impossible.”

“I came from nothing, and I still have come from nothing,” Wells said. “However, I have created my life and have created success. It’s about independence and growth… I don’t care what you want to be in life, but it’s going to take sacrifice.

“Something how to say that ‘nothing is impossible’ is to fight a disease that is supposed to cripple me and kill me as I’m trying to not only cure it, but overcome it, mind over matter. I’m very proud being here today.”

But with the dedication of the arena coming full circle, the years of wondering and that lingering doubt at the back of Wells’ mind is finally gone, and he said he’s no longer hesitant to show his face around an arena that he spent much of his youth in.

“I’m going to put a good 25-30 years to help the youth in this St. Clair Shores hockey league because it was such a great league when I grew up,” Wells said. “I feel that this rink being named after me after 34 years is incredible, number one. I was in shock, I wasn’t sure if it would ever happen.

“However, it’s here, it’s brought new life to me and got me back into hockey.”