Remembering Ace & Mark, 25 Years Later

On September 11, 2001, 25 years ago today, the LA Kings lost two valued members of their organization – Garnet “Ace” Bailey and Mark Bavis. Every year, we remember Ace and Mark for who they were and what they meant to the organization. In the words of those who knew them well, we remember not just that Ace and Mark are no longer with us, but who they were when they were with us.

Remembering Ace and Mark, 25 Years Later.

Ace Bailey is a man who has made an impact.

On the surface, Bailey was a tough man. He had seasons with over 100 penalty minutes in juniors. Over 100 penalty minutes in the AHL. Over 100 penalty minutes in the NHL. A tough customer.

But he was so much more than that.

For Bruce Boudreau, who coached the Kings’ AHL affiliate in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, first in Lowell and then in Manchester, he remembers Bailey fondly.

He remembered meeting who he described as a “hulk” of a man. Bailey wasn’t the tallest but he was imposing when you met him. The first time that Boudreau spent meaningful time with Bailey was when he and his son were invited over to Bailey’s house. Nothing fancy, just some barbeque and beers, as people do.

When Boudreau got to Bailey’s house, he noticed a chicken coop in the backyard. Nothing crazy, but he said there were 4-5 chickens, as well as a newly hatched group of chicks. Whenever Ace went somewhere, the chicks would start walking and follow him around his house and backyard. First impressions for Boudreau and he couldn’t help but laugh as he remembered it.

“I’m looking at this big hulk of a man and he’s so gentle and he’s got these little chicks following him around everywhere,” Boudreau remembered. “I just thought that was so cool, who he was. He was not only friends with everybody and knew everybody and would protect you at any cost but he was also the most gentle guy you want to meet at the same time.”

When Boudreau walked into a building with Ace Bailey, he felt like you were walking into a Bailey family reunion.

Whether it was the general manager or the usher in section 100, Bailey seemed to always know that person by name, to the point of where he’d always stop for a conversation. To Bailey, these people weren’t just workers, they were part of his circle. And, if you were in Ace’s circle, you were set.

“Loyalty was the biggest thing on Ace’s list, he was loyal to a fault for his teammates and his friends,” Boudreau recalled. “If you just looked at him on the ice, you would think a big tough guy and there was so much more to Ace than a big tough guy. He was the kind of guy that would go to every arena and he knew every usher by their first name. He would go in and he would talk to all of them, he would never dismiss any of them. He would sit and talk to them and then he’d come and talk to all of us guys, obviously, but I never met a man that knew so many other people just by going to arenas and not thinking he was like holier than thou.”

Boudreau said that Bailey was someone who was “always in your corner.” If his teams in Lowell were struggling, Bailey would be the guy in Los Angeles going to bat for him and his staff.

He was the same way with the entire staff.

When the Kings added a new scout, Bailey was the first person to welcome them to the organization and more importantly, to make them feel welcomed at the organization. That went a lot way.

“Ace was the head of our pro scouting staff and just a terrific person,” former Kings General Manager Dave Taylor said. “He was very outgoing, loved to have a good time. Any room he went into, if he didn’t know people, he went up and introduced himself and got to know them. He was absolutely terrific on our staff. When we had new scouts come aboard, he was usually the first guy to welcome them on board with the Kings and include everybody in every event that we had. If we were having meetings, we’d all go out to dinner together. There were times when we met over in Phoenix and Ace would go in a couple of days early. He’d get a room with a little kitchenette and he’d cook for everybody. We’d have meetings during the day and then he would make dinner and everybody was together. He was really a team-oriented guy.”

Ace Bailey was the guy who had your back. The guy who would invite you to his house to make you feel welcomed. The life of the party one night but the first guy at the rink the following morning. The guy who would scout as many games as he could in Florida because he didn’t want to be in the cold. The man who never let Boudreau live down the time he accidently ate potpourri at a hotel because he thought they were nuts.

A good man, who is missed.

Unlike Bailey, who was more than 30 years into his career in professional hockey, Mark Bavis was just getting started.

Bailey had spent 12 years playing, two years coaching and 20 years in scouting, first as an area scout and later as the Director of Professional Scouting with the Kings. More than 30 years involved in the game. Over the years, he met so many people and built so many relationships.

Bavis, on the other hand, had so much still in front of him. He was 31 years old, had played four years of college hockey at Boston University, three years professionally in the AHL and ECHL. He was a teammate of new Kings Head Coach Peter Laviolette in Providence and played alongside his twin brother Mike, first at Boston University and then with the South Carolina Stingrays.

Like so many kids from Boston, it was Bobby Orr who made Mark fall in love with the sport. Growing up the 1970’s in Boston, I mean, who else would it be? One of the game’s greatest players made a lot of kids in Boston fall in love with the game and Mark and Mike were no different, watching the Bruins, specifically Orr, growing up.

“You’re talking about the 70’s in Boston and the Bobby Orr bounce of kids playing hockey,” Mike said. “So many kids in the 70’s were putting on skates because of Bobby Orr. Everybody played here at that time. We ended up in a great youth program with a lot of players who played in college, some guys who played in the NHL and he thrived in being a part of that.”

As they grew up, Mark and Mike shared the rare combination of being both brothers and teammates.

What kind of a teammate was Mark?

Legendary Boston University Head Coach Jack Parker referred to Bavis as being “such a well liked teammate” when he played there. A good person, above all.

If you asked Dave Taylor, he was “a younger version of Ace” which is high praise for a man who had just started with the Kings. Taylor saw some of Bailey in Bavis when he hired him and managed him as a part of the scouring staff.

While Mike didn’t know Ace to that extent, his own answer to that question also mirrored the things that Boudreau and Taylor said about Bailey.

“He was fiercely loyal,” Mike Bavis said of his brother. “He was a great teammate and he was a great friend to all of his friends. That’s who he was.”

After his playing career and spending some time behind the bench at Harvard and Brown as a coach, Mark Bavis began his scouting career with the Kings and was entering his second full season with the organization in 2001.

When Bavis joined the Kings, Taylor was at the helm as the team’s General Manager. He hired Bavis as a scout off the recommendation of Greg Dreschel, who was a fellow scout from the organization, and Bavis immediately stepped in and made a difference.

“Mark was more of a reserved personality but very professional,” Taylor said. “He was a terrific person, he did a lot of volunteering in the Boston area with the youth groups. He had a lot of connections in that USHL and in the high school leagues, he had grown up around Boston and then went to Boston University, so he had a lot of connections there. Worked very hard, very diligent, did great reports and he helped us draft two very good players that year [in Mike Cammalleri and David Steckel]. Those were two players that we had drafted out of college that year that Mark had a big influence on us selecting.”

Mike Bavis always got a kick out of seeing his brother up on the draft stage, in Dave Steckel’s draft-day photo. Steckel, for reference, is 6-6. Mike was proud of his brother for reaching the NHL and knew how much it meant to his brother to be there. IT was cool to see him make that kind of an impact, even with a laugh as he’s looks at that photo.

“When he transitioned into scouting with an NHL team, Greg Dreschel was there and he loved working for Al Murray and Dave Taylor,” Mike recalled. “He was looking forward to the start of his second season. We got a kick out of him being on the stage with [Dave Steckel]. It’s funny. I was in Montreal a number of years later, I was actually at a concert, and Mike Cammalleri came over, we talked and he made a point to talk to me. [Mark] really loved the guys he worked with.”

Cammalleri was a second-round pick from the University of Michigan, again with Bavis’ influence in the scouting process. Just the one draft, but Bavis had his fingerprints all over it.

Unfortunately, Bavis’ time with the Kings ended just over a year into his tenure with the organization. Hearing those who knew him speak about it, you wonder how many more of those kinds of stories we’d know had that been different, from a fiercely loyal teammate who was loved by those around him and gave that love back.

September 11, 2001 is a tragic day in the history of the United States. For those personally connected, you can only imagine what emotions the anniversary of it brings up. It was emotional for Mike Bavis, who wanted to convey that he and his family are so grateful for the support that the Kings organization and Kings fans have given to his family and to the Mark Bavis Leadership Foundation over the years. Something he felt he could never repay and was emotional in saying.

For the Kings, though, it’s about honoring and remembering important legacies. Whether it’s today or however many anniversaries down the line, it remains important.

To this day, Ace and Mark still remain a part of the Kings every time the team takes the ice. On the back of all Kings player helmets is a sticker, honoring Ace and Mark’s respective legacies.

When the team’s postseason awards are handed out, the “best newcomer” is awarded the Mark Bavis Memorial Award. The team’s “most inspirational” player is awarded the Ace Bailey Memorial Award.

“People that were with the organization 25 years ago certainly know what all those things mean,” Taylor added. “I mean, the best newcomer is the Mark Bavis Award and Ace was a team player and the Ace Bailey Award is for the player with leadership skills, who [inspires others] and so the Kings have carried that on. I think they still wear the patches on the helmets. They have recognition and they’ve been very involved with the fundraising, both for the Bailey family and the Bavis family over the years. They’re always part of the family and always will be.”

Both men are still thought of within the organization and remain a part of the team on the ice, 25 years later.

Something that won’t change any time soon.

Photo by Juan Ocampo/NHLI via Getty Images

In honor of Ace and Mark’s respective legacies, providing links to the Mark Bavis Leadership Foundation (LINK HERE) or Ace’s Place (LINK HERE), located at the Tufts Medical Center in Boston.

The Mark Bavis Leadership Foundation was established by family and friends of Mark Bavis to preserve his memory and to perpetuate the principles by which he lived every day, through which he touched many lives. The foundation provides selected recipients with annual grants ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 to be used as specifically requested for school tuition, summer programs and other appropriate extracurricular activities. The Mark Bavis Leadership Foundation raised more than $400,000 since its inception and awarded nine scholarships in 2023.

Known as Ace’s Place, the playroom in the Pediatric Emergency Department at Tufts Medical Center has been renovated thanks to the generosity of the Ace Bailey Children’s Foundation. KPTI accepts gifts of toys, hospital dolls, blankets, CDs and DVDs for the children to use in the playroom. For those who are not well enough to go to Ace’s Place, child life specialists bring toys and diversions to the patient’s bedside.

A thank you to Mike Bavis, Dave Taylor and Bruce Boudreau who each took the time this week to speak with the Kings organization, to help honor Ace and Mark. Your time was greatly appreciated.