Mark Zan Mourer

External Relations Professional

United States

I coulda been somebody in the ring of writing. I'm now training to be a freelance contender.
In the past, I have sparred with deadlines, jabbed at newsletters and knocked out press releases.
I have produced content for leadership, marketing, campaigns, and non-creatives.
I fight to tell the accurate truth. Or, at the very least, my opinion.

Portfolio
Press Box DFW
03/16/2019
Jenkins' humor, His Ownself remembered at service - Press Box DFW

FORT WORTH - He knew it was coming. Dan Jenkins said so on more than one occasion. He wanted the message on his tombstone to read, "I knew this would happen." Even predicting his eventual demise, His Ownself remained one step ahead of the rest of us, filing his epitaph as a game story on deadline.

News and Feature Writing

Fort Worth Business Press
12/16/2016
The Voice of the Frogs

TCU Football and Basketball play-by-play announcer and WBAP morning co-host Brian Estridge expands his empire by raising the stakes in the college football bowl business.

Fort Worth Business Press
11/11/2016
Remembering the Coming Back

Robert Earl Keen returns to Floore's Country Store to celebrate and record a 20th anniversary show taking listeners both back to his classic "Live No. 2 Dinner" scene and forward to the future with special guests.

Fort Worth Business Press
Taking Aim Fort Worth skeet ace seeks gold in Rio

Georgia native and current Fort Worth resident beats the heat - and balances pressure of repeating as a two-time gold medal Olympian - while eyeing business ventures after Rio in 2016.

Fortworthbusiness.com
11/25/2016
Making the sale: Bringing back the old-style barber shop

Usually, the journalist hits with the tough questions. But Aaron Taylor, when talking about his career as a barber, harmlessly fired one back. "How many guys do you know that say they want to cut hair?" he asked. When fewer than one came to mind, he smiled.

FWTX.com
06/05/2015
Eric Hyman Returns to TCU

Long before the new stands went up around the Lowdon Track and Field Complex, the track facility itself had to be repurposed, repositioned and replaced. Before TCU baseball players could navigate a concrete-free centerfield, a roadmap was needed to create a new diamond. And, for that matter, a surrounding athletic complex.

Fort Worth, Texas Magazine
04/22/2015
Glory of the Goat

Removing golf courses from city topography is nothing new. Typically, condos or malls cap the former fairways and greens like a crown over a root canal. Country clubs that lose surrounding property value, memberships, tee times and corresponding revenue are prime targets for whiskey distilleries and, perhaps more frequently, real estate developers.

Blog Writing

Killerfrogs.com
03/22/2016
The Prodigal Son

As the parable goes, one of the kingdom's sons went out to earn his way, make a name for himself, live a little, and make his fortune. After a series of adventures, and Sweet 16 appearances, he looked back at the old kingdom and wondered if maybe it wasn't such a bad place to be after all.

KillerFrogs.com
06/09/2015
What the Game Was About

After an epic battle on the baseball diamond, TCU advanced to Omaha, beating Texas A&M in the 2015 Fort Worth Super Regional.

www.buxtonco.com
01/29/2014
The Top 5 Things Franchisors Should Do to Ensure Growth

Director of Sales Mark Mourer explains what franchisers should look for in the year ahead in this Buxton blog installment. Check back for more insights and updates from Mourer on Buxton Retail and Healthcare solutions.

Press Releases And Newsletters

Horned Frog Sports Report
11/01/2002
Horned Frog Sports Report

As HFSR Executive Editor, I both assigned and covered stories for our quarterly donor publication while working with talented designers in laying out the newsletter.

Horned Frog Sports Report
04/24/2002
TCU Baseball Feature

As TCU progressed through the WAC schedule, Mark Hamilton emerged as an offensive power threat for the Horned Frogs. This feature talks about his drive - both to compete in baseball and those pointed toward the outfield.

Paige Hendricks Public Relations
03/09/2007
Wall Homes 2007 Growth Preview

Freelance writing with Paige Hendricks and her team at PHPR focusing on the marketing and publicity for Wall Homes and other projects in 2007.

Texas Motor Speedway Public Relations
03/31/1998
RVs and Race Fans Arrive for the 1998 Primestar 500

The sophomore season for Texas Motor Speedway began with a bang/crash/boom in the Primestar 500 weekend, but festivities began a week prior to the dropping of the checkered flag. This press release, written among dozens of others during my two years in PR at TMS, focuses on the crowds who drove thousands of miles to make the North Texas grounds around the speedway their home for a week.

Long-Form Writing

TCU Press / ISBN 978-0-87565-417-1
06/16/2011
100 Years of Partnership: Fort Worth and TCU

On the 100th anniversary of TCU’s move to Fort Worth, The Center for Texas Studies at TCU and the TCU Press have joined together to produce an in-depth look at the historical relationship between town and gown, between the city and the university that are inextricably linked. Taking advantage of photographic archives newly digitized, the book explores the history of the university, how its academic programs enhanced city life, how the university’s myriad arts offerings created a reciprocal...

Thesis - Texas Christian University, 2004 / System Number 001030292
05/07/2004
Baja New York: the early career of Texas sports writer Dan Jenkins

Master's thesis on the Fort Worth era of Dan Jenkins' sports writing career prior to a brief stop at the Dallas Times Herald and long, prosperous career in New York with Sports Illustrated.