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Mark Hume McCormack (November 6, 1930 – May 16, 2003) was an American lawyer,
sports agent A sports agent is a legal representative (hence agent (law), agent) for professional sports figures such as athletes and coaches. They procure and negotiate employment and Testimonial, endorsement contracts for the principal (commercial law), at ...
and writer. He was the founder and chairman of International Management Group, now
IMG img or IMG is an abbreviation for image. img or IMG may also refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics *IMG (file format), file that stores a complete and uncompressed copy of the contents of a storage device * IMG, a prefix for camera ima ...
, an international management organization serving sports figures and celebrities.


Business career

After his Army discharge, McCormack worked as an attorney at the
Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
law firm, Arter & Hadden. In the 1950s he helped organize one-day golf exhibitions for professionals around the United States. In 1960, McCormack founded
IMG img or IMG is an abbreviation for image. img or IMG may also refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics *IMG (file format), file that stores a complete and uncompressed copy of the contents of a storage device * IMG, a prefix for camera ima ...
. McCormack wrote several books, including ''The Terrible Truth About Lawyers'' and ''What They Don't Teach You at
Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...
'', which spent 21 consecutive weeks at #1 on
The New York Times Best Seller list ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...
. His annual publication ''The World of Professional Golf'', first published in 1967, included an (unofficial) world ranking system. In his book ''What They Don't Teach You at Harvard Business School,'' McCormack tells a fictionalized story of a Harvard study in which the three percent of graduates who had clear, written goals earned ten times as much as the 97 percent who didn't have clear, written goals. McCormack and numerous motivational speakers, including Tony Robbins and Brian Tracy, have used various versions of this story in their presentations.


Originated rankings for golf and tennis

The system used to calculate Mark McCormack's world golf rankings was adapted in 1986 to become the
Official World Golf Ranking The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of professional golfers. It was started in 1986. The rankings are based on a player's position in individual tournaments (i.e. not pairs or team events) over a "rolling ...
system, with McCormack chairing the rankings committee made up of representatives from all the major golf tours. McCormack pioneered a similar system for tennis rankings. McCormack met his second wife Betsy Nagelsen-McCormack, a two-time
Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
doubles champion and a
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...
doubles finalist, while she was a business client. They married in 1986. The couple founded the McCormack–Nagelsen Tennis Center at the
College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (abbreviated as W&M) is a public university, public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III of England, William III and Queen ...
, which houses the ITA Women's Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame.


Death

McCormack died at a New York hospital on May 16, 2003, age 72, from complications after suffering a cardiac event four months earlier that left him in a coma. His second wife, Betsy Nagelsen, their daughter, Maggie, and children from his first marriage to Nancy Breckenridge McCormack, Todd and Leslie, later shared $750 million, when the family's shares in IMG were sold.


Honors

In July 2006, McCormack was selected for induction into the
World Golf Hall of Fame The World Golf Hall of Fame was, until recently, located at World Golf Village between Jacksonville, Florida and St. Augustine, Florida, in the United States. It is unusual amongst sports halls of fame in that a single site honored both men ...
in the lifetime achievement category and was inducted in October 2006. On January 23, 2008, he was also inducted into the
International Tennis Hall of Fame The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors both players and other contributors to the sport of tennis. The complex, the former Newport Casino, includes a museum, 13 grass tennis courts, an ...
. He was featured as one of the Forbes 400 Richest Americans in 1995, 1998, 2001. In 1990, he was named the "Most Powerful Man in Sports" by ''
Sporting News ''The Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a ...
''. The
University of Massachusetts at Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the Flagship university, flagship campus of the Univer ...
has also named their Sport Management department after McCormack. The British film ''Wimbledon'' (2004) was dedicated to Mark McCormack by director
Richard Loncraine Richard Loncraine (born 20 October 1946) is a British film and television director. Loncraine was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Loncraine received early training in the features department of the BBC, including a season directing i ...
. The Mark H. McCormack Medal is awarded to the leading player in the
World Amateur Golf Ranking The World Amateur Golf Ranking for men was introduced by The R&A, the governing body of the sport of golf outside the United States and Mexico, on 23 January 2007. It is based on the results of over 2,600 amateur tournaments per year (and amateurs ...
after the
U.S. Amateur The United States Amateur Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Amateur, is the leading annual golf tournament in the United States for amateur golfers. It is organized by the United States Golf Association and is currently held each August ov ...
and the European Amateur. The Mark H. McCormack Award is awarded to the player who has spent the most weeks at first place in the
Official World Golf Ranking The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of professional golfers. It was started in 1986. The rankings are based on a player's position in individual tournaments (i.e. not pairs or team events) over a "rolling ...
during a calendar year. The first 13 of these awards after its inception went to
Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins, PGA Tour wins, ranks second in List of men's major championships winning golfers, men's m ...
.


Bibliography

*''Arnie: The Evolution of a Legend'', New York: Simon & Schuster (1967) *''What They Don't Teach You at Harvard Business School: Notes From A Street-Smart Executive'', New York: Bantam (1984) *''The Terrible Truth About Lawyers: How Lawyers Really Work and How to Deal With Them Successfully'', Harper Collins, 1987 (also published in another edition as ''What They Didn't Teach Me at Yale Law School'', Fontana Press 1988) *''What They Still Don't Teach You at Harvard Business School'', New York: Bantam Books, 1989 (also published in another edition as ''Success Secrets'', HarperCollins, 1989) *''The 110% Solution'', Villard Books, (1990) *''Hit the Ground Running: Executive Guide to Insider's Travel'', Orion, 1993 (published in soft-cover edition as ''What They Don't Teach You at Harvard Business School About Executive Travel: Hit the Ground Running'', Dove Books, 1996) *''McCormack on Negotiating'', Random House (June 1995) *''McCormack on Selling'', Random House Business Books (June 15, 1995) *''McCormack on Managing'', Random House Business Books (October 1995) *''McCormack on Communicating'', Dove Entertainment (February 1996) *''Getting Results for Dummies: Get Organized, Stay Focused, and Get Things Done!, IDG Books, (1999) *''Staying Street Smart in the Internet Age'', Penguin Putnam, 2000 (also published in another edition as ''What You'll Never Learn on the Internet'', HarperCollins Business, 2001, as well as ''Never Wrestle with a Pig and Ninety Other Ideas to Build Your Business and Career'', Penguin, 2002) *''The World of Professional Golf'' (Published annually from 1967, it continues to be published posthumously, the title page indicating that it was founded by Mark McCormack). The first of the annuals was titled ''Golf '67''.


References


External links

*
Memorial from College of William and MaryPittsburgh Post-Gazette ObituaryInternational Tennis Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCormack, Mark American male golfers 20th-century American non-fiction writers Philanthropists from Illinois American sports agents Golfers from Chicago Illinois lawyers International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from Chicago William & Mary Tribe men's golfers World Golf Hall of Fame inductees Yale Law School alumni 1930 births 2003 deaths 20th-century American sportsmen