Coach Mark Southworth
Graduating class: 1982-1988
Inducted into Hall of Fame: 2013
Hall of Fame Category: Coach
Although he was only there for six years (from Fall 1982-Spring 1988), Mark Southworth left an indelible mark on the FHS basketball program and will forever be recognized as one of the Blue Devils’ finest coaches. While struggling to a 5-14 record in the first season after taking over the program, Coach Southworth experienced nothing but success after that. His ’82-’83 team narrowly missed the state tournament with a record of 13-7. The next four years, however, Southworth’s team qualified for the tournament with ease.
His teams finished both the 84-85 and 85-86 seasons with a record of 15-5 but his most memorable and celebrated team was the 86-87 Blue Devils. That team finished the season with a record of 18-2, the highest winning percentage of any team since the Standard Times began keeping records in 1972. That team not only won the tough South Coast Conference championship, but also won the South Sectional and Eastern Massachusetts titles before losing a hard fought battle to a talented Frontier Regional High School team in the Division 3 State Championship game. Following this season, Coach Southworth was named Division 3 State Coach of the Year by the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association. He coached one more year at Fairhaven, finishing with a 16-4 record and a second round loss in the State Tournament.
Mr. Southworth left FHS in the summer of 1988 after accepting a dual position at Cape Cod Community College as the Head Basketball Coach and Academic Retention Officer for Athletics. From there he went back to his roots, coaching the Bourne High School Boys Basketball team and also serving as the Athletic Director. Mark Southworth was an outstanding coach at Fairhaven High School. His teams were talented, aggressive, and fundamentally sound because of who he was as a coach but his players also learned about discipline, character, strength of heart, and the difference between right and wrong because of who he is as a man.