While Mark Thornhill’s heart condition has kept him off the track for more than three decades, he’s stayed close enough to it to continue to have an impact on it. For his contributions to the track and field programs at GNB Voc-Tech and his influence on the running community the past 27 years, Thornhill has earned a place in the Massachusetts State Track Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame. He’ll be inducted along with Brookline’s Michael Glennon, Lowell’s Phil Maia and Amherst Regional’s Dr. Mulazimuddin Rasool during the MSTCA’s Annual Awards Banquet May 20 at Lantana’s Restaurant in Randolph. Old Rochester’s Bill Tilden will also be honored by the MSTCA as the Eastern Mass. Boys Spring Track Coach of the Year for 2011. Thornhill becomes the ninth track coach from SouthCoast to enter the MSTCA Hall of Fame. “It’s a big deal to be taken in by all of your peers on the state level,” the 54-year-old Thornhill said during a recent practice at GNB Voc-Tech. “It hasn’t hit me yet. It eventually will.” Emergency heart surgery to replace his aortic valve at the age of 21 ended Thornhill’s running days after a successful career that saw him go from being a state and New England champion at New Bedford High to a member of the USA traveling team in Europe after graduating in 1977. “It’s the old story; I ran out of money and had to go to work and then that’s when I got sick,” explained Thornhill, a member of New Bedford High’s Hall of Fame. “I was at a softball tournament and I got sick. I was having hot and cold sweats. I went to a hospital and my heart was this big. After they did all the tests, I had to go to Boston and I had the surgery within 24 hours. They took the heart right out of me. “They told my father up there if I wasn’t a runner, that I wouldn’t have made it, but I’m still here and I’m having a good time.” . GNB Voc-Tech’s Mark Thornhill will be inducted into the MSTCA Hall of Fame and Old Rochester’s Bill Tilden will be recognized as the 2011 Eastern Mass. Boys Spring Track Coach of the Year May 20 at a ceremony beginning at 1:30 p.m. at Lantana’s Restaurant in Randolph. Tickets at $45 per person. Contact Lou Tozzi at (781) 837-5185, Frank Mooney at (508) 728-9921 or Lenny Sylvia at (508) 998-3321, ext. 293 for tickets or more information. Not long after one door closed another opened, giving Thornhill a new avenue to express his love for track. “I was out of work on disability because of the heart problem that I have and a friend asked me if I’d come and volunteer coach (at GNB Voc-Tech) so I came,” Thornhill said. “Mike Shea hired me that winter to start coaching in the spring and another year later I was the head coach for indoor also. Thirteen years ago, I took over cross country.” Thornhill said having athletes for the three seasons has helped build the program at Voc-Tech. “You see kids, you find out their ins and outs and you work off of that,” said Thornhill, who was named one of the Top 15 coaches in 1995 by the High School Development Committee for USA Track and Field. “It’s nice to see kids develop. I’ve been fortunate enough to coach thousands of kids and now I have their kids. There are kids here now that I coached their fathers or mothers back in the day.” The one thing Thornhill was asked to do when he took over the track programs at Voc-Tech in the mid 1980s was to make them “competitive.” His success over the years can be measured in numbers. “When I came in that spring, they were 1-27 over the last three years,” he said. “That year we went 7-3. “Since I’ve been here, we’ve been able to win 41 championships (South Coast Conference, State Vocational, MSTCA States and MSTCA State Decathlon) combined for boys and girls in cross country, indoor and outdoor track. That’s big. We’re real proud of that.” The programs’ numbers have also risen under Thornhill’s watchful eye. “When I came here, the girls program had 10 girls and the boys program had about 25 or 30 boys on a good year,” he said. “Now combined we have 150 kids.” A humble Thornhill knows he didn’t build up Voc-Tech’s program alone. “I’m fortunate because of the people here,” said Thornhill, mentioning current and former assistants Henry Fortin, Lenny Sylvia, Lino Cabral, Paul Guilbeault, Steve Walker, Patty Thibeault, Marcio Santiago, Theresa Bousque, Brian Patenaude, Rene LeBlanc and Al Valcourt. “People don’t realize that you can’t do what we’ve done here the last 27 years by yourself. I have good people that coach with me and I’ve had the good support of the administration.” Thornhill has also made an impact on the running community as the director of the MSTCA New England Track and Field Clinic the past 21 years and by holding several invitationals each year at GNB Voc-Tech. “We run a lot of big meets here. I like that stuff because it gives the kids a chance to compete and compete against kids of their ability,” he said. “The sport has been good to me and this is a good way for me to give back by doing invitationals and the school supports it big time.” Thornhill doesn’t take anything for granted and for good reason. “I’m going to have to have surgery again; it’s inevitable,” said Thornhill, who hopes to continue to coach for another decade. “It could happen in six months or it could happen in two years; no one knows. “It limits me, but it doesn’t limit me.”
Inducted: 2012