What’s your name and what fills your time?  

Mark Broughton, I have been designing and writing business software for the last 30 years.  People ask me all the time when I am going to retire and I tell them ‘it ain’t like I dig ditches for a living.”  I love to see businesses all over North America using my technology to be more efficient.  In addition to my core businesses, I’m currently building and providing the best youth sports software available for football and cheerleading.

I was born in San Diego CA in 1958.  My dad was a career Navy man.  He and my mom were from Memphis TN and so they wanted to get back to the east coast – he was transferred to Mayport in 1963 and I thought I had died and gone to heaven.  So just before my 5^th birthday I got to know what east coast critters were and the beach.  My family settled in a new subdivision out by Mayport called Oak Harbor.  It was full of navy kids and a lot of multi generation beach people.  My back yard was all the woods a kid could ever dream of.  When not in the woods or fishing in the canals and boat basin in Oak Harbor, we played at the beach that was then known as Seminole beach.  It was such a glorious time and I loved the beach.  I got my first Styrofoam board from 7/11 on Wonderwood Road by the gate of the base when I was 5 and belly boarded until my chest was raw. Didn’t know Styrofoam would rub you raw.

I went to 12 different schools from 1^st to 12^th grade between California, South Carolina, Virgina, Memphis and the beach.  My dad retired in 1970 and we moved back to our home in Oak Harbor until after I graduated in 1976.  My first skateboard was a 2×4 with metal wheel screwed on it.  Dead Man’s curve was a curvy driveway in Oak Harbor with a hairpin turn.  Lifeguarded in Atlantic Beach when there were rocks visible.  Lifeguard station was a tin building.  Between sitting we would head to Slippery Dip for a splash down.  Played sports at Fletcher Jr High, Football, Basketball and Baseball.  In high school I played primarily football and played for the best coaches a boy could ask for.  Grew up a bit behind Joe and Billy Reynolds, both childhood heroes.  I wanted to be as tough as Billy and hit as hard as Joe on the football field.

Anything special going on for this summer? 

I spend about 8 weeks a year in the Florida Keys fishing, broken up in week long segments.  I love to glamp in my motor coach but nothing is more fun than getting into a school of Mahi or light tackle with Yellow Tail.

Any passion projects or focus for the summer? 

I will continue to develop cool software to help organizations make their life better and more efficient.

Any hobbies or interests worth telling us about?   

I moved off the beach about 20 years ago and traded the oceanfront for 220 acres of cattle ranching.  I raise Brangus Meat cattle ( a cross between Brahma and Black angus)  I still get back to the beach many times  a month to eat and listen to Four Play with Vicki and Hal Hollingsworth, or Dad Bodz with Tom McManus or Double Down and eat at some of the best restaurants on the planet.

What’s one thing (funny, different, cool) that many might not know about you? 

I am not as mean as people thought I was as a youngster, fairly laid back.  The writer may have an opinion on that.

How do you like living on the First Coast?  

I moved to Baker County because it reminded me of how the beach was when I was a kid…everyone knew each other from Mayport to Palm Valley.  It still is the best place in the world to be from and I love coming back almost weekly to see my old friends.  The only thing missing in Baker is the beautiful ocean,

 Anything else that you would like to tell the community?  

If you are not from here be kind to the people who are and you will be accepted in.  These are salt of the earth people living in this great community.  How blessed was I to grow up and live in a place so clean and wonderful and to make life long friends with the best people in the Universe.

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Mike Kaufmann

Mike is a native First Coaster and was a leading figure in surfing and skateboarding for most of his life. After promoting music for many years on the local music scene, Mike now brings a unique perspective to FirstCoast.Life as a contributing writer.

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