Profile: Mark Strube, Grinder
By Sharael Feist
January 5, 1999
Mark Strube was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He grew up sailing on boats with his father, Roger. In addition to his sailing credentials, Strube played football at Northern Michigan University. He played quarterback for the first three years and then tight end and all special teams the final two. During his senior year, Mark was voted Most Valuable Special Teams Player by his teammates.
While attending college, Mark would return to Milwaukee regularly where he taught sailing for four years. He then moved to Miami to pursue a Masters degree in Business. After graduating in December of 1994, Mark played Arena Football and was backup quarterback for the Orlando Predators.
Mark started a career as a stockbroker. But he found it hard to get time off to pursue his sailing passion. He decided to run a sailing program at the Palm Beach Sailing Club, and soon after switched to being a senior operations manager for a promotions company. His most recent endeavor was working for Florida Rigging.
In 1997, Mark competed in the Star North Americans with Joe Landrigan. They were victorious. This was the first national sailing event Strube won. He became involved with America True in the summer of 1997 while he was in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin racing the Melges 24 Gold Cup.
“One day, while putting the boat away,” Strube said, “I asked Buddy (Melges) what would be the best way to get on an America’s Cup boat. He asked me if I wanted to be on the handles. I said for sure. We spoke for a little while and he told me to get him my resume and he would send it on to Dawn. A few days later I got a call from San Francisco. It was Dawn asking me to come for a tryout. I raced Key West and Kenwood with the team.”
Strube also traveled to Newport and New York with the team as an America True representative.