Alumni Spotlight: Mark Zygmontowicz, '75

Mark Zygmontowicz doesn’t have one specific fond memory from his days as a Pilot student. But, it’s not because Zygmontowicz – a class of 1975 graduate – didn’t enjoy his time on Conner and Glenfield, the former home of De La Salle Collegiate and the location of the school until it moved to Warren in 1982. 

In fact, it’s the furthest thing from the truth. 

“I can’t think of one disappointing day that I ever had in my four years as a student at De La Salle,” Zygmontowicz said. “I don’t think many young men can say that after their high school experience. I never once felt that way. That’s a testament to the school.” 

Zygmontowicz, affectionately known as “Ziggy,” wasn’t initially a proponent of attending De La Salle, however. 

The Zygmontowicz family grew up on Kilbourne St. in the shadows of De La Salle, then located by the Detroit City Airport. Yet, the family of seven was parishioners at St. David Catholic, and each of Ziggy’s older brothers – Dave, Mike, and Bob – attended St. David for high school.

As easy of a decision as it may have seemed for his parents to send him – like his brothers – to St. David, it wasn’t. The reason: The closing of St. David was looming, per Zygmontowicz. And, as a result, his since deceased parents, George and Louise, decided to send him to DLS. 

“I threw a conniption when I found out, and said I wasn’t going to an all-boys school. The parents ultimately won out, though, and I ended up at De La Salle,” Ziggy said. “Four years later, I confessed it was the best four years of any educational experience I could have had. It taught me so much about relying on my faith and friendships. And, those friendships I made at DLS are still the best ones I have to this day. Those guys are my brothers.” 

These “brothers” that he speaks of are Dave Wendt, John Berg, Mike Decker, Mark Torzy, Dan Loepp, Ron Shubnell, and Chris Gorence – all of whom are fellow class of ‘75 graduates. Ziggy has also maintained a lifelong friendship with Jeff Jackman, a class of 1976 graduate. 

Mark Zygmontowicz

“It’s so hard to put it succinctly how much each of those guys have meant to me,” Zygmontowicz expressed. “They’ve meant the world to me. Those are guys I can turn to no matter what the situation may be, good or bad. We’ve been there for each other since our days as classmates at De La Salle. These guys are truly brothers to me.” 

Zygmontowicz and his classmates did a lot of growing up in their time as Pilots students. They came into De La Salle as immature boys and left the all-boys, college preparatory school as mature young men ready to take on the challenges of college and the real world. To Ziggy, this growth in maturity from freshman to senior year was a fulfillment of the school’s motto: “Builders of Boys. Makers of Men.” 

“To me, it (the motto) means the DLS faculty & staff are taking in an immature kid who has potential but hasn’t harnessed it yet,” Zygmontowicz said. “When you come out of De La Salle, you come out a man. The transformation one experiences over four years is monumental. They prepare you for the hardships of life.” 

Since leaving the hallways of The Collegiate, Zygmontowicz has committed himself to a life of charitable work.

Most notably, he’s taken it upon himself to collect equipment for poorly funded, low-budget youth football programs. The equipment has ranged from shoulder pads and tackling and blocking dummies, to hand shields and cleats. 

It’s an idea Ziggy first got from watching the popular ESPN Films documentary, “Hellfighters.” The documentary focused on a high school-aged football team from Harlem, N.Y., which didn’t have a school or field to call home. This stemmed from the fact that of the 13 high schools on the island of Manhattan, there was not a single football team. 

Subsequently, Duke Fergerson – a former NFL wide receiver – took it upon himself to organize a team by recruiting boys from the 13 schools. This team of underprivileged teenagers that was formed became known as the Harlem Hellfighters. They were named after the 369th Infantry Regiment, an Army brigade in World War I that also was referred to as the “Harlem Hellfighters” and was denied the opportunity to fight for the United States because its soldiers were Black. These same men proceeded to join the French Army to have the opportunity to fight in World War I.

Zygmontowicz was instantly drawn to this story, and thought it would be the perfect cause for his son, Bradford – then a football player at Catholic Central – to contribute to. 

Every Christmas when his children were growing up, Zygmontowicz and his wife, Julie, would write letters to Bradford and their daughter, Maggie, and place the letters in envelopes in their family Christmas tree. These letters were a way for Ziggy and his wife to tell their children just how much they had built character and overcome adversity during the given year. Then, he and his wife would donate to a charity that reflected the growth that they had exhibited.

Soon after watching the documentary, Ziggy got in touch with Fergerson and donated to the Harlem-based football program.    

“This inspired me. These kids had a passion for playing football,” Ziggy expressed. “They’d go through literally anything to just walk on the field.” 

Fergerson and Zygmontowicz quickly became friends, and Ziggy ended up contributing to the program for four consecutive years. He even got the chance to help Fergerson coach the team for a couple of games, an experience that Ziggy will never forget.    
  
Upon arriving in Harlem for his first game as a coach, he had to walk a couple of blocks from where his taxi had dropped him off. As he walked to the school where the Hellfighters players met up before games, he got a small taste of what the players experienced on a daily basis. Specifically, he saw the downtrodden, drug-ring-heavy area that the teenage boys had to walk through. 

“My experience with Harlem was eye-opening,” Zygmontowicz shared. “You cannot capture the hardship of living there from news bites. I was struck by how real the poverty, drugs, and hardships were for those kids to just get through school and football on a daily basis. My kids’ biggest worry in high school was what they were going to have for lunch; these kids had to worry about whether they would make it to and from school safely.”

Ziggy also got the chance to attend an end-of-the-year banquet for the Hellfighters. During this event, an award was handed out to one of the students for exemplifying bravery. It went to a young man who had battled back from an injury caused by a gunshot. This aforementioned teenager, as Ziggy would come to find out, was shot while walking the streets of Harlem, coming back from practice. 

Zygmontowicz credits this trip to Harlem with helping inspire him to start giving back to needy football programs. It wasn’t the sole inspiration for Ziggy spearheading this initiative, though.  

As a youth football player at St. David Elementary, he was involved in an unfortunate football accident – a head-to-head collision – that left the other individual, Bernard Damitio, disabled his entire adult life. And, a week before this incident, Ziggy recalls talking to Damitio about the shoddy equipment the team possessed, which included broken helmets. 

It was later discovered that the inferior condition of the helmet contributed to the life-altering impairment for Damitio.  

Ziggy certainly hasn’t forgotten that, and it is a major reason why he’s made it his mission to ensure no team takes the field with low-grade equipment.   

Consequently, the first thing he did when he returned home from New York was call up legendary former Brother Rice head coach Al Fracassa. He asked Fracassa if his program would be willing to donate its extra equipment. Fracassa obliged, and Ziggy decided to give the equipment to the Detroit Police Athletic League (PAL) for its youth football teams.     

Soon after, though, life got in the way for Ziggy. He moved to Texas for a new job at a next-gen software solutions company called Tango Analytics, causing him to put a pause on this charitable effort. 

He retired from Tango Analytics in 2022 and moved back home to Michigan. And when he did, he started back up his football equipment-giving program. Upon doing so, he reached out to Pilots varsity football coach Dan Rohn. 

On behalf of Rohn, the DLS football program donated its used equipment to Zygmontowicz. He then distributed the gear to Detroit Loyola High School. 

Ziggy’s next objective with this program is to expand its overall reach. He wants to eventually get all the metro Detroit-area Catholic high schools to make donations. By doing so, he hopes to provide usable equipment to as many as four or five different schools a year, with a large focus being on serving underprivileged, Detroit-based schools. 

Once he accomplishes that, he’d like to give the program a regional feel through establishing a network of warehouses and distribution facilities in Toledo, Cleveland, and the Midwest. 

“Loyola was ecstatic to receive the used gear from De La Salle,” Zygmontowicz said. “This charity gives these Detroit-area schools, like Loyola, an edge both on and off the field. Also, it might allow one or two of these kids to get scholarships and make a difference in their lives and the lives of others.”

Ziggy has spent the entirety of his adulthood making a difference in the lives of others, a quality whose importance was instilled in him as a student at De La Salle. 

Even though nearly 50 years have passed since he last walked the hallways of DLS, he hasn’t lost his fondness for the place that helped shape him into the faith-filled, upstanding man he is today. 

Just this past December, he visited his alma mater for an end-of-the-year school liturgy. While in attendance, he felt as if his life had come full circle.   

“Being at Mass, with all the boys there, made me think of what’s transpired in my life and the role that De La Salle has played in all of it,” Zygmontowicz commented. “These young men are just on the precipice of the rest of their lives.” 

Celebrating Mass with the students also got him thinking about all the valuable principles that DLS taught him and his classmates. 

“The school taught us discipline regarding how to prepare for our studies and the importance of putting in the necessary time and effort. These are the things that have stayed with me long after graduating,” Zygmontowicz expressed. “You also learned to never give up, no matter how tough the circumstances. Those were traits I already had, but they blossomed at DLS because of the structure and discipline that were emphasized.” 

Zygmontowicz left De La Salle not only better equipped to handle the academic rigor of college but also more ready to handle the challenges of life. 

As Ziggy succinctly put it himself: “It’s not just about the textbooks and the work you do inside the classroom at De La Salle. It’s also about developing into a well-rounded human being.” 

As the DLS motto goes: “Builders of Boys. Makers of Men.”

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