Greenbrier loses beloved softball coach to cancer

Mark Moseley died April 17 following a three-year battle with cancer, and those who loved him best say his passing robs the area of a remarkable and giving man.

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"He was the most wonderful, caring man I've ever known," said long-time friend and neighbor Birnie Florie. "He just had a big heart and liked helping people."

Though it's likely that most know Moseley as a volunteer assistant coach of the Greenbrier High School softball team, he also served on the Columbia County Planning Commission, as a former president of the Columbia County Exchange Club, as a former chairman and co-founder with Florie of the Columbia County Sheriff's Office Auxiliary, and was active with his Sunday school class at First Baptist Church of Augusta, where a memorial service was held Saturday.

"He had a love for extra-curricular activities and getting young people and teens involved in that," said Jennifer Shearouse, Moseley's daughter. "He thought that was very important."

For Greenbrier Athletic Director and softball coach Garrett Black, Moseley was a close friend who just happened to be a first-rate assistant coach, and who helped guide the Wolfpack to multiple state and region titles.

"First and foremost, I lost a great friend," Black said. "He was in my inner circle, I like to say. He was somebody I could trust and somebody who had my back, constantly."

But Moseley was not beyond using subterfuge where the Greenbrier players were concerned.

"If coach Black would fuss at them (softball players) if they messed up in practice, Dad would step in to tell them they were doing great and mend fences," Shearouse said. "He loved that relationship he had with the girls. He had 30 extra daughters every year."

And those "extra daughters" loved Moseley, as evidenced by a folder full of letters from former players presented to Moseley during September's season-opening softball game against Harlem.

Moseley regularly sent letters to senior players at the conclusion of the softball season to tell them how proud he was of them. Many of those former players wrote him letters of their own, encouraging him in his fight against the cancer in his colon and liver.

That game was dedicated to Moseley and he threw out the ceremonial first pitch, with Shearouse making a trip from her Atlanta home to catch it behind the plate.

"It was more than a game to my Dad," Shearouse said. "It was about building them up as people. It was teaching them about life, not just softball. The girls loved him for that."

About a week prior to his death, Moseley took the opportunity to tell his family how much he loved them and how proud he was of them, said Moseley's son, Andrew.

"It was something a lot of people don't get to do. ... That was pretty special," Andrew said. "He was the kind of guy who really wanted to put a smile on everybody's faces."

Moseley said his father sensed the end was coming. He wanted to make sure his wife of more than 30 years, Joyce, was well cared for, but he also couldn't resist the opportunity to solicit one more laugh.

"Over the past month, he's been talking about this probably being it," Andrew said. "He kind of joked about it. He said, 'Look, it's not that I lost the game. I just ran out of innings.' "