PORT ANGELES — Longevity on the North Olympic Peninsula links starts and ends with Chimacum’s Mitch Black and Port Angeles’ Mark Mitrovich, who are both heading off to the second stages of retirement after Thursday’s finish at the Class 1A and 2A state golf tournaments.
Black, 65, a Port Townsend native and founder of the Chimacum High School golf program, wrapped his 39-year coaching career by guiding four Cowboys to a fourth-place finish at the 1A state tourney at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco.
Mitrovich, 58, bowed out after 30 years of coaching by watching three Port Angeles players compete at the 2A event in Liberty Lake.
The Roughriders ended up 10th overall.
It’s no surprise Black’s golf coaching career will wrap at a state tournament: a Chimacum player has qualified for state in 38 of his 39 seasons.
He’s been coaching so long that Chris Bainbridge, one of the four Chimacum golfers competing at state, is the son of Paul Bainbridge, a player on Black’s first-ever Chimacum golf team.
“The kids have been great and I’ve had a great program,” Black said.
“It’s really come full circle.”
He previously retired from a career spent teaching social studies and contemporary world problems at the high school in 2005.
At this stage of his life, Black is ready and excited for change.
“I’ve been around schools for 60 years, changing chairs in one way or another, and I feel my time has come and gone,” Black said.
“It’s been good to me, especially dealing with the kids. I’ve always enjoyed that, and it’s just come to a time and place where I want to redefine myself.”
A travel enthusiast who’s been visiting Thailand annually for nine years, Black has plans to tour more of Asia as well as New Zealand.
“Everybody who knows me knows I’ve been doing a lot of traveling, and there’s some places I want to see and things I want to do,” Black said.
World traveler
He’s spent much of his time abroad in the Thai city of Pattaya, a popular place for retirees and vacationers.
“There are 38 championship golf courses there,” Black said.
“I really want to spend six months a year in Asia, either playing golf or just traveling around. Last year, [Port Townsend resident] Buddy O’Meara and I went to Cambodia and Vietnam.
“I’d like go to Indonesia and spend time in Bali, check out Malaysia and Myanmar and go to New Zealand and do some fly fishing.”
Black picked up the game at an early age when his parents Widge and Lois Black leased and managed Chevy Chase Golf Course (now Discovery Bay Golf Club).
He didn’t end up playing golf in high school for Port Townsend, owing to differences with coach Jack Freeman.
After he returned to the Olympic Peninsula to teach at Chimacum, Black would end up golfing on a nearly daily basis with Freeman, a man who became a good friend and close confidante.
“We’d play golf every night and talk politics, and I found out he was one of the most well-read conservatives I’ve ever known,” Black said.
“We could talk about issues coming from a completely different direction, and it was refreshing to be challenged by someone who didn’t feel the same way about things that you did.”
Black said Port Ludlow Golf Club’s first golf professional, Ted Wurtz, gave him the push he needed to launch the Chimacum golf program.
“Ted Wurtz had a lot to do with starting things for me,” Black said.
“His son Mark was a seventh-grader and he asked me to coach him.”
Mark Wurtz became Black’s first state champion, winning the 1A crown in Black’s first year in charge and going on to play in professionally, including two U.S. Open tournaments.
Black would later coach Chris Johnson to the 2008 title.
“I convinced [former Chimacum superintendent] Lloyd Olson that it would tie us to the community more to start a team at Port Ludlow,” Black said.
“We had failed nine levies in a row and there was no connection to the community at Paradise Bay and Port Ludlow.”
Black hopes to be able to spend the prime golf months back here on the North Olympic Peninsula.
“I still open the shop and teach out of Port Townsend. Golf Club,” Black said.
“I wouldn’t mind still tutoring a promising junior player.”
His connection to the Port Ludlow course also is still strong.
“I’d really like to thank [head pro] Vito [DeSantis] and the guys at Port Ludlow. The last 10 years have been fabulous out there,” Black said.
“They support the kids so much. They employ them, they let them play for free and they teach them.
“I’d like to see one of the assistants, and especially Darren Posey, take over the program.
“He played for South Kitsap, and my suggestion is to hire him.”
Mitrovich eyes tour
Mitrovich started coaching the Roughriders in 1985 and has poured thousands of hours into the program.
“You just kind of know it’s time to look for other opportunities,” Mitrovich said.
“I thought I’d do it forever. I thought I’d do it for 40-45 years.”
Mitrovich, too, has seen overseen a traditionally strong golf program.
“We’ve always had good individual players, but our best success as a team has been more recently when we finished fourth [in 2013] and fifth in 2012.
“Having Joey Barnes, Garrett Payton, Jordan Negus, plus Micah [Needham] and Alex [Atwell], that was probably our strongest group.”
Mitrovich is leaving quietly, but will be chasing dreams of qualifying for Champions Tour (formerly the Senior PGA Tour) events for those ages 50 and older.
“I’m not one for big fanfare, any of that stuff,” Mitrovich said in describing how he shrugged off the usual potluck when he retired five years ago from a career teaching fifth grade in Port Angeles schools.
“I’m there for the kids. I think 30 years is a great run. I’ve enjoyed every second and it’s probably time for somebody younger to try it.”
A zero handicapper himself, Mitrovich is planning on getting his game in shape to challenge for spots on the senior golf tour.
“I don’t spend a ton of time working on my own game while coaching the kids,” Mitrovich said.
“I’ve tried qualifying for the Boeing Classic [held near Seattle] a few times, and I’ve made it through the first cut before, but have had trouble getting past that second level.”
A solid ball-striker both distance and accuracy-wise, Mitrovich’s issues arise, like most golfers, within 150 yards of the cup.
“I still need to work on the consistency of my short game: pitching, chipping and putting,” Mitrovich said.
“Those guys on the senior tour, it’s tough to make it, but there’s always a little crack, and when there is you have to be on.
“This will give me a chance to work on my game more seriously. The focus has been on the kids, as it should be.”
Mitrovich said most senior tour players start to decline around the age of 60, so he feels it’s now or never.
He taught history in the classroom and is excited about the prospect of seeing some of the famous places he would often describe.
“I’d love to travel and see Revolutionary and Civil War locations while doing this,” Mitrovich said.
A big sports fan who signed and played Class A baseball in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization before an elbow injury derailed his career, Mitrovich plans to stay caught up on sports.
“I’m a golf nut,” Mitrovich said.
“I’ve wrapped teaching with golf around my life.
“You don’t always impact every student, but we do make a difference as educators.
“I’ve always tried to help make [my players] into even better people, and golf is a good avenue for that.
“It leads to greater ventures for them down the road.”
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
