For 33 years, Mercury News columnist Mark Purdy informed, inspired, provoked and entertained South Bay readers with his commentaries on sports and life. Originally from Celina, Ohio, Purdy joined “The Merc” in 1984. He covered 14 Olympics and 32 Super Bowls and was named one of America’s Top 10 sports columnists by The Associated Press and The Wall Street Journal. In 1990, he and his colleagues won the Pulitzer Prize in General News Reporting for their coverage of the 1989 Loma Prieta “World Series” earthquake.

A relentless advocate for the construction of San Jose’s downtown arena, Purdy also coined the Sharks’ secondary nickname of “Los Tiburones” and gave the moniker of “McCovey Cove” to the body of water outside the home ballpark of the SF Giants.

In 2021, Mark Purdy became the first journalist inducted into the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame.