VIRGINIA BEACH — Ron Jenkins coached many athletes over his 30 years in Virginia Beach.
He loved them all. But there are some he considers his son.
Mario Mullen was one of those kids.
So when Jenkins received a phone call Friday from Mullen’s brother to inform him that Mullen had died, he was stunned and heartbroken.
“Anytime you lose a kid who you taught and coached, it’s a hard pill,” Jenkins said. “But this one has a little more impact because I did so much with him. Mario is a big part of the Bayside family and he’s going to be truly missed. I give all my condolences to his mother, his wife and his children.”
Mullen, who was 50, had suffered a severe illness, but Jenkins thought he was getting better.
When Mullen’s brother called Jenkins on Friday, he thought it was going to be good news.
“I had talked to his brother and his mother and they said he had been making some improvement,” Jenkins said. “I got immediately optimistic about what I was hearing and that they may move him from ICU and put him into a rehab center. But then Friday night his brother was in tears. I’m thinking he was calling me to tell me they found a place, but he called to say Mario passed. It’s just a sad, sad day.”
Jenkins first heard about Mullen when he was in middle school. Back in those days, eighth and ninth grade were together at Bayside Junior.
“I kind of followed him from that time on. I could see then that there was a considerable amount of the athleticism about him, especially playing in the post area,” Jenkins said. “He came over to us as a sophomore, and he was immediately an impact for us. He just had a knack for playing inside the post.”
In his junior year, Mullen helped lead the Marlins to back-to-back state titles in 1990 and 1991, and was named the Group AAA Player of the Year in 1991.
He went to Old Dominion, where he was a four-year starter and played alongside current Monarchs coach Mike Jones and assistant Odell Hodge.
He earned All-Colonial Athletic Association freshman honors. In 1995, he had 16 points and 10 rebounds to help the Monarchs upset third-seeded Villanova in the NCAA Tournament. He averaged 8.4 points and 4.8 rebounds per game during his college career.
Mullen became a special education teacher in Hampton Roads, including at Maury High, where he also coached the junior-varsity team.
When Ocean Lakes High had a head coaching opening in 2020, Mullen applied.
“He got me to write him a letter of recommendation, and I did. And he got the job,” Jenkins said. “I wasn’t shocked. A lot of people who were good players don’t go into coaching because it’s hard to get people to play like them. But he did, and we shared a lot of ideas. I went to a lot of his games.”
Jenkins warned Mullen that taking over a struggling program can be difficult, as Jenkins learned firsthand at Bayside.
“I told him that he would have to weather those storms and have tough skin. Eventually, if you keep pushing your program, you’re going to be just like me,” he told Mullen. “You just have to have patience and don’t become despaired. You got to work hard at it, you can’t give up. And he showed that fortitude and he was determined that he was going to make it better.”
Ocean Lakes struggled in Mullen’s three seasons, but he never gave up hope of being able to turn the program around.
Former First Colonial coach Mark Butts remembers Mullen well.
“I got to know him as a friend in my last few years of coaching,” Butts said. “I coached against him when he played in junior high and high school.”
Recently, Mullen asked Butts, who is an artist, to talk to his son about art.
“He was going to art school and wanted to start doing shows,” Butts said. “In talking to his son, you could tell what type of man and father Mario was. This one really hurts.”
Jenkins, who stepped away from coaching in 2002, said he and Mullen shared something in common when both of their fathers were sick at the same time. Mullen’s father had an enlarged heart and was passing away. Jenkins’ father had stage IV lung cancer.
“One thing his father told me before I passed, and I’ll never forget this, he looked at me and said, ‘Coach Jenkins, take care of my boy,'” Jenkins said. “And I tried to adhere to that ever since. He always has been like a son to me. I’m just thankful that I had an opportunity to coach him. If I had 15 players like him every year, I’d still be coaching.”
Larry Rubama, 757-575-6449, larry.rubama@pilotonline.com
