Uyl working the College World Series last year

“High school is where we can have the most impact on the largest number of kids and help teach them the most important life lessons.” That’s the opinion of Mark Uyl, a long time high school sports official, umpire, teacher, administrator, athletic director, and current assistant director of the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA). There he supervises and coordinates programs for Michigan’s 11,000+ high school sports officials. The numbers back him up. In the 2013-14 school year, nearly 7.8 million youngsters participated in high school sports – an all-time high – according to the annual High School Athletics Participation Survey conducted by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). Compare that to the fact that, according to the NCAA, there were just 420,000 college student-athletes in 2014-15.

Uyl firmly believes in the importance of the role we play as high school sports officials and the positive influence they can have on young student-athletes. In fact, given his career, you could say Uyl is the model for dedication to high school athletics. What’s remarkable about this is that Uyl has had great success as a college football official and as an umpire at the very highest level of college baseball. Typically, when high school officials ascend to the college ranks or beyond, they don’t look back. Well, Mark Uyl is anything but typical.

Here’s how he got to where he is today.

High school sports through and through

Uyl was a standout three-sport athlete in high school in his home town of Grand Rapids, Michigan, achieving a level of success that he continued at Calvin College where he was a four-year starter and captain of the baseball team. He was twice named to the All Conference Team. After graduating from Calvin, he embarked on a career in high school education, administration and athletics. His career included positions as a history and physical educational teacher, assistant varsity football coach, assistant principal and athletic director. Along the way he earned a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership from Grand Valley State University.

A long and successful career in officiating

Uyl has put together an impressive high school and college officiating career. He started out working high school basketball and baseball, including serving on the crew for the 1999 MHSAA baseball finals. Uyl’s basketball duties ended when he became an athletic director. Still, the world of college officiating was open to him, and he pursued that opportunity with great success. He worked college football for 12 years including 10 at the Division III level in the MIAA (Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association), and received several NCAA postseason assignments. Though he no longer officiates college football games, Uyl is the coordinator of officials for the MIAA, which was founded in 1888 and is the nation’s oldest athletic conference. He also has made his mark (pun intended) in a big way in NCAA college baseball. He has umpired for the Big 10 and Conference USA, among others. He’s worked a number of conference tournaments including the Big 10 this past spring. Uyl was also part of the umpiring crew for the 2014 College World Series in Omaha.

Uyl working this year's Big Ten Tournament

If all of the above isn’t enough, Uyl currently serves as chair of the board of National Association of Sports Officials (NASO).

By the way, Uyl has accomplished everything you just read about while at the relatively young age of 41. which also makes him the poster child for “Sleep is overrated.”

How did he get so involved in officiating?

All in the family

Uyl grew up in a sports officiating family. His Dad, Jim, was an outstanding high school baseball umpire and basketball official for 46 years.

“My Dad was my first mentor. I would go with him to his games and observe,” Mark said. “I learned a lot about what you’re supposed to do as an official, and from that experience I always knew I would get involved in officiating one day.”

Early in his career, he got to work some games with his Dad, which was both thrilling and instructive. Uyl’s younger brother, Dave, is also an umpire. He worked pro baseball for 12 years, got to the AAA level, and came close to moving up to the majors and has had great success at the Division I college level. Two years ago, the two sibling umpires worked together at the Big 10 tournament.

“That, to me, was the No. 1 highlight of my umpiring career. My brother and I were on the crew at a major league field –Target Field – the home of the Twins,” Uyl said. “Even my two kids were involved, serving as bat boys and ball boys for our games.”

Happily, the Uyl brothers were selected to umpire at the 2015 Big 10 Tournament, again at Target Field.

Lessons Learned

What has he taken away from his extensive officiating experience?

“It’s that we’re human. As officials, we’ll never be perfect. But every day and every game, we’re striving to be excellent,” Uyl said. “I think that not only makes us better officials, it makes us better family men and women and better members of our communities.”

A lifelong commitment to high school sports continues

Despite Uyl’s officiating successes he has never taken his eye off the proverbial ball of high school sports and what he can do to make the student athlete’s participation as enjoyable and productive as possible. His time serving as a high school athletic director put everything into perspective.

“When I was a high school athletic director at a school of around 1,000 students, one of every two was involved in sports. That’s a lot of kids and I was fortunate to have the opportunity to help them have a positive experience.”