Mark Donovan was born on March 19, 1966, to George, Eleanor, and his four older brothers, Bobby, Al, Mike, and David. He lived his entire life in Tewksbury, MA where he attended Tewksbury public schools and graduated from Tewksbury Memorial High School. It was during high school that he found his two true loves: wrestling and his wife, Patty. 

Well, sort of. Patty and Mark actually met when they were young, as Patty’s aunt lived a few houses down from the Donovan boys. They grew up as childhood friends, and Mark went on to attend Tewksbury High whereas Patty went to Billerica High. Even at separate schools, they stayed in touch. Mark constantly asked Patty out and finally landed a date after graduation. From there, they dated for six months before getting engaged and married in 1989. They went on to share 32 years of marriage and their two boys, Shawn and Matthew.

During Mark’s young adult life, he discovered his greatest passion: wrestling. Mark fell in love with the sport in high school and never looked back. After graduation in 1985, Mark began his coaching career at Shawsheen Tech where he remained the head coach for the next 35 years. During this time, Mark cemented himself in the history books of Massachusetts wrestling. He was able to amass over 500 wins, 23 league titles, and coached 12 Division One State Champions, three of whom went on to be New England Champions. As a result of Mark’s commitment and dedication to High School wrestling, he was inducted into both the Massachusetts Wrestling Hall of Fame and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Every year Mark would tell his student-athletes that there were three important pillars in a young man’s life. These were: Family, School, and Sports, in that order. The order of those three words was the most important to Mark because, above all else, Mark’s greatest accomplishments were as a husband, father, and brother to his family.