Steve Mariucci, former coach of the Detroit Lions and San Francisco 49ers, attends Wednesday’s grand opening of the building that bears his name, the Steve Mariucci Family Beacon House. (Journal photo by Christie Mastric)

MARQUETTE — It’s officially called the Steve Mariucci Family Beacon House for a reason.

Mariucci, former coach of the Detroit Lions and San Francisco 49ers and a native of Iron Mountain, has been involved in the Beacon House mission for decades, and Wednesday’s grand opening signaled a culmination of his involvement.

Mariucci and his wife, Gayle, helped launch the Legacy of Love campaign, donating $500,000 to help build the new Beacon House and put the first shovels in the ground on Aug. 21, 2020.

However, Mariucci had been involved with Beacon House long before that — about 20 years, according to his estimate.

“It was really in the infant stages,” he said, although it grew to a building along Third Street not too far from the former UP Health System – Marquette campus.

Mariucci got a deeper look into Beacon House operations when his mother developed cancer.

“I literally stayed in the Beacon House with my brother from California, and my other brother from downstate,” Mariucci said.

He could have stayed with his sisters, who lived in Marquette, but chose to stay at Beacon House because it was near the hospital.

“It was convenient, and we didn’t have to impose on anybody,” Mariucci said.

Unfortunately, his mother passed away, but that’s when the decision was made to be financially and committed to the mission.

“You get it when you stay here,” Mariucci said. “So, we really jumped in with both feet after that.”

Many functions, including golf tournaments, have been held to raise money for the new facility, which is next to the new UPHS – Marquette campus.

“We just felt that that old location was just too far away for the winter,” he said. “Even (in) the summer, it’s more convenient to be close by where you can just literally walk to go back and forth to the hospital.

“We had to make a decision. Do we just leave it status quo or do we just say, ‘All right, we’re going to build’?” said Mariucci, who acknowledged that to get the facility to where it is today, $7 million had to be raised.

“That’s a lot of money and a lot of asking and a lot of blood, sweat and tears to accomplish that,” Mariucci said. “We chose to do it, and we went for it, and here we are. We couldn’t be more proud of this facility.”

He called Beacon House “a passion” for a number of years.

So expect Mariucci to continue to help the facility.

“My name’s on the building,” he said. “I’m going to be involved.”

Christie Mastric can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 250. Her email address is cbleck@miningjournal.net.