A 1972 graduate of East Leyden High School, Mark Gervais continued his wrestling career at Northeast Missouri State before staying on to coach three All-Americans and win a conference championship during a three-year coaching stint at his alma mater. He then served as an assistant coach to Ron Clinton at Eastern Illinois University and earned his master's degree in Sports Administration. In 1982, Mark began a career as head coach at Chicago Marist High School, starting a 25-year stretch that included 511 dual meet victories. He mentored eight individual state champions, 10 individual state runners-up, 50 other place-winners and 100 state qualifiers. His teams won 24 consecutive East Suburban Catholic Conference titles, 11 regionals and six sectionals. Under Mark's tenure, Marist also won the state team title in 1987 and finished second or third on four other occasions. Mark also served on many coaching staffs for Illinois summer Freestyle and Greco teams that competed across the country. He now volunteers as a State Finals table worker and continues his support at other wrestling events. Mark was honored in 1987 by the IWCOA as its Coach of the Year. In 1995 the IWCOA inducted Mark into its Hall of Fame. The IWCOA in 2013 recognized Mark's many accomplishments by bestowing upon him its Lifetime Achievement Award.