Over the years, I bought many beers from Mark Peterson at his small stand in the upper deck at Wrigley Field.

I never did, however, sit down and have one with him.

Oh, how I wish I had. I’ll bet it would have been a memorable experience.

Peterson, in addition to being probably the friendliest beer seller at Wrigley, was the longtime voice of Sandburg athletics.

I saw him countless times announcing at football, volleyball and basketball games.

After 27 years as a math teacher, Peterson retired from Sandburg in 2018. Before becoming the “Voice of Sandburg,” he was an assistant girls basketball coach for Gary Bonk and Kathy Krueger.

I’m not just blowing smoke when I say he was one of the most popular people at the school. When he died suddenly on July 28 at age 61, a great void was created in many lives.

My memories of Mark? I have to be honest. Except for a few conversations at his beer stand at Wrigley, it’s mostly visual.

The man always had a smile on his face. He announced with the most personal, unique style I have ever heard. When Katie committed a block during a basketball

game, Mark would call out her number and then say, “Katie, that is your fourth foul.”

If you didn’t know him, you might have thought he was throwing a dig. But he wasn’t. I never thought it came across sounding mean. I doubt that many, if any, girls took it the wrong way.

When I showed up with my notepad, he always turned around from the announcer’s table to say hi. He always gave at least a wave at the end.

So I feel comfortable in saying that Mark Peterson always poured a cold beer, was a pro’s pro at the microphone and was a really nice guy.

As for the rest, I’ll let the experts take it from here.

According to Krueger, he was the perfect assistant coach.

“He was kind, he was caring and he had a great sense of humor,” Krueger said. “Even in the most stressful times that we had, he always made it seem OK, not only for me but for the girls as well.

“He just had this calming effect about him. I was young, coming in and taking over for Gary Bonk as a head coach. Mark took my stress level down a few notches, and he made even practice fun with different things for the team to do.”

After he stopped coaching, Peterson went behind the microphone. He started with football, but soon picked up other sports. He came through in a big way for girls volleyball coach David Vales.

“There was always a football announcer and a boys basketball announcer,” Vales said. “But back in the day there really wasn’t a girls volleyball announcer. I went up to Mark and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got our senior night coming up and it would be great if the girls could hear their names called out over the microphone.

“He said, ‘I don’t know too much about volleyball. But I’ll do you one better.’ He started calling all of the matches. After each match, he’d ask if he called this right or that right. All I asked was for one night, and he never stopped for at least a dozen years.”

Peterson not only loved being an announcer, he embraced it. He wore it on his sleeve. Former Sandburg athletic director Tom Freyer — who’s now in the same position at Downers Grove South — found that out in their first meeting.

“When I got the AD job, he came into my office,” Freyer said. “He introduced himself by saying, ‘Hi, I’m the voice of the Eagles.’ I said, ‘Well, that’s weird. I thought your name was Mark Peterson.’ He got a chuckle out of that. Ever since, we had a great friendship.

“The thing I enjoyed about him the most was he was a professional in everything he did. Whether it was teaching math and trying to hone his craft there or announcing games, I was blown away at how well-prepared he was for everything.”

Including saying goodbye.

“Every text message, every email, or even when he’d leave a room, he’d always tell everybody, ‘Continue having a great day,’ ” Krueger said. “He lived his life with kindness, laughter, love, and he wanted everybody to live life to the fullest.”

It would probably be more fitting for me to toast your life with one more beer. But I’ll go with what Krueger wrote on the note with the flowers she sent from the math department.

“We will continue to have a great day.”

Indeed, we will.from Page 14