In the fall of his freshman year, James Mullen became, in his own words, “…so intimidated by the whole aura of college soccer that I became convinced that I was not good enough to succeed. I didn’t play my first freshman semester.” Mullen attributes what happened next, and the remainder of his career, to “…several players, [including] Willard Hutton and Tim Brinkerhoff, who convinced me to participate,” and Coach Doug Burke, who “…was gracious enough to let me play in the indoor season.”
Mullen would go on to become a three-year starter at midfield, a chaplain during his junior year, and a captain as a senior. During his final campaign he led the NAIA in assists most of the season and came within one assist of setting the THEN-Houghton record of 13 assists. At the conclusion of that season he was named an NAIA Academic All-American, and also garnered District 1
st Team honors.
Of his college soccer experience, Mullen claims, “My teammates became my best friends for a lifetime. I often conclude that at most other colleges I would never have played a college game of soccer.”
Mullen’s greatest legacy, perhaps, came after graduation, as he would become one of the winningest high school soccer coaches in New York State history, and as an English teacher and theatrical director, where he impacted the lives of hundreds, if not thousands of students at nearby Fillmore Central School.
The son of a philosophy professor and teacher, and the grandson of two Wesleyan ministers, James Mullen grew up in a household filled with books, music, art, and an immersion in Christian faith and the life of the church. Coupled with his love of games and the outdoors, he cultivated a multi-dimensional zeal for life; passions he has maintained, shared, and invested in others, throughout his life.
The youngest of four children, Mullen was born in Woodstock, New Brunswick, Canada, but moved to Houghton when he was only a year-and-a-half. He spent his entire childhood in Houghton, and all but one year of the rest of his life within four miles of where he was raised.
Of his childhood, he recently said:
“As a Canadian, I always dreamed of being an NHL hockey player, and stickhandled up and down our hallways. Obviously, the fact that we only had ice one month of the year and no legitimate access to a rink quickly turned my focus more to soccer, which was the game of choice in Fillmore and Houghton.
“The older players at Fillmore were my heroes. Steve Burke, Ron Barnett, Rob Jacobson and others were my idols both at FCS and HC. It just so happened that during my later elementary years, when we might be most impressionable, both schools were in the midst of dynasties. Houghton ruled college soccer for most of the late 70s and in 1975, FCS was having a 16-1 season in Allegany County. I poured myself even as a 4th-and-5th-grader into both teams, serving as a ball boy whenever possible and being a team manager at FCS.”
After graduating as Fillmore’s valedictorian in the spring of 1982, Mullen followed in the footsteps of his three older siblings by matriculating at Houghton College as a pre-ministerial major. While he eventually changed his major to English Literature, he retained a Bible minor and added a secondary education minor.
Of his time at Houghton, Mullen stated:
“I greatly valued the climate to encourage doubt, questioning, and analysis to affirm and strengthen faith. It became okay to think and doubt as a Christian, and to realize that God is not threatened by either. By far and away, the greatest impact was the combination of true-blue scholar/saints like Warren Woolsey and Charles Bressler along with some of the finest Christian men I’ve ever known in the majority of my teammates.”
Mullen also credits his former teammates for the roles they played in his development, and Coach Burke for never losing faith in him.
“Even after I let him down my freshman year by not playing, he just continued to encourage me and offer me opportunities to succeed. He affirmed me, not only as a soccer player, but as a scholar, an actor, and as a singer in College Choir. He never made me feel like a traitor to sport for developing all parts of my abilities. [It’s also] impossible to overstate the impact of my teammates on my life, then and now. Guys like Myron Glick, Tim Kangas, Mark Leavitt, Greg Gidman, Mark Ashley, and others have transformed the world or Christ as doctors, missionaries, educators, and coaches. They were brothers then, and brothers now.”
After earning valedictory honors, Mullen taught for a year in Elba, New York, before accepting a position at Fillmore Central School, where he spent the next 33-plus years, teaching English, coaching multiple sports and directing theatrical productions.
As a soccer coach, Mullen led his alma mater from 1990-2021. Over that span he turned his teams into a small-school juggernaut. Some of his teams’ and personal accolades include:
- 25 Allegany County championships
- 6 Section V soccer titles, 2 Section V basketball titles, and 1 Section V boys tennis title
- 4 New York State semi-final appearances
- 2 New York State final appearances
- A career 465-98-43 record, which ranks him 6th in Section V and 16th in NYS history, and a winning percentage (82.6%) that ranks 11th in NYS. He ranks 1st in Allegany County Boys’ Soccer in both career wins and winning percentage.
- 10-time Section V Class D Coach of the Year (he also won the award twice as a basketball coach)
- 4-time Small-School Coach of the Year
- Twice awarded the Olean Times Herald Doug Burke Big 30 Soccer Coach of the Year
- 2-time Paul Vienna Allegany County Coach of the Year
In recent years, Mullen has received induction into both the Allegany County Sports Hall of Fame and the Section V Soccer Hall of Fame. In his induction into the latter, he stated that the accomplishment in which he takes the most pride, is the one on a banner hanging in the gymnasium at Fillmore Central School. In 2005, after capturing a Section V Championship and an appearance in the NYS State semi-finals, his team earned the #1 ranking in academic average in all classifications of New York State Boys’ Soccer.
This past fall, Mullen stepped away from coaching varsity soccer at Fillmore, opting instead to coach the boys’ modified team and occasionally assist the older players. He passed on his whistle to one of his former players, Jared Vossburg, and his assistant, James’ son, Jordan Mullen. On November 13, with the entire Mullen crew in tow, James watched the Fillmore Eagles finally win their first New York State soccer title, a 2-0 victory.
In reflection upon his career, Mullen pined:
“I loved being able to exercise all my interests. I directed 23 musicals, including Les Miserables (twice) and Beauty and the Beast. I coached tennis, basketball, and soccer and won sectional titles in all of them. I taught high-school English, including a College English class for Houghton College credit. Watching kids who had little faith in themselves shine in ways they never dreamed was the best part.”
Mullen’s connections to Houghton University continue to run deep. All three of his children, Jessica, Victoria and Jordan, graduated from Houghton and now live in the local area. He has taught numerous classes and led devotionals for college courses and teams, and has played intramural sports for near 35 years post-graduation, “give or take a few seasons.”
An avid outdoorsman, he continues to love hunting and fishing, swimming, canoeing and water skiing. He has also “dabbled in duck-carving, writing children’s books, and making Adirondack chairs. In my retirement, I’ve [also] become a part-time roofer.”
James and his wife, Darice (Beardsley, ‘86), have been married for 36 years. In addition to their three children, they have four grandchildren. They are happily retired in Fillmore.
