Eric Bulmahn, who took over a struggling Mt. Vernon High School volleyball program and made it one of the best in the state, passed away Thursday.
Bulmahn, 61, was diagnosed earlier this summer with a rare form of stomach cancer.
Mt. Vernon was 9-20 the season prior to Bulmahn’s arrival as the Marauders head coach.
Starting in 2014, he coached the Marauders for eight seasons and compiled a 76.5 winning percentage. He went 195-60, including seven 20-win seasons, a pair of sectional championships, and a regular spot among the state’s top-20 ranked teams.
Following his retirement from high school coaching in 2022, a Greenfield Daily Reporter story on his time at Mt. Vernon was headlined, “Eight Years of Excellence.”
“I think the biggest reward I got out of (coaching at Mt. Vernon) was, every year the players gave full respect to me and full respect to each other. They were a joy to coach,” Bulmahn said in the story.
In 2014, with a team made up mostly of sophomores, Bulmahn’s team went 24-9. They followed up with back-to-back sectional crowns in 2015 and 2016. Those teams had win-loss records of 29-5 and 27-8, respectively.
The 2017 club was the only one under 20 wins, but an 18-12 season, considering the schedule Mt. Vernon played, was far from a bad season.
Over the years about the only thing that stopped the Bulmahn-led Marauders was geographic location and having to face some of the state’s top teams early in the postseason.
Sectional losses in 2019 and 2020 went to eventual state champions, New Castle (2019) and Yorktown (2020).
Four times in eight years the team that knocked Mt. Vernon out of the postseason won the state title. After the Marauders won sectional titles in 2015 and 2016, they lost to Cathedral in the regional. The Irish teams were a combined 67-4 in those seasons, including a 36-0 mark and No. 1 national ranking in 2015. Starting in 2018, Bulmahn’s teams began beating the Irish regularly.
If you beat Mt. Vernon chances were you were going to go a long way. In eight years, along with the four losses to state champs, the other four were to eventual sectional champions.
Five times in eight years the Marauders finished the season in the top 15 of the MaxPreps.com state poll, six times they were in the top 24.
In 2019, they finished No. 6. In 2020, they were No. 8. His final team in 2021 wrapped up at No. 14.
Coaching at Mt. Vernon was a family affair, too.
Eric’s wife, Monica, was the team’s assistant coach.
Three of the top players during that time were their daughters, Jaclyn (2014-16), Victoria (2016-19) and Cecilia (2018-21). All played Division I volleyball. Cecelia is currently playing at Southern Illinois University.
There was always at least one daughter on the team during their eight-year coaching tenure.
“Having (Monica and our daughters) be part of the program helped. I don’t think I could have done this if I did not have kids in the program and a wife not bought in,” Eric said in 2022.
Last month, Mt. Vernon High School honored Bulmahn at the Sept. 25 Mt. Vernon-Triton Central volleyball game.
Eric was unable to attend but family, former players, friends, and fans were there in large number supporting the Bulmahns. Eric was able to watch the ceremony from his hospital bed on the Mt. Vernon Athletics YouTube channel.
“Thank you for coming out and showing your love for Eric,” Monica told the crowd. “The outpour of support and generosity of our friends, family, the MV community, and the volleyball network has been indescribable. … We feel the love.”
That night, Eric’s brother, Mark Bulmahn, announced the establishment of the Eric Bulmahn Mt. Vernon Legacy Fund. The fund will provide support for the Mt. Vernon High School volleyball program, including scholarships, equipment, and other resources to help young athletes pursue their dreams in the sport.
Mark and his wife, Connie Bulmahn, donated $25,000 to the fund and have committed to matching any outside donations to the fund dollar for dollar over the next 12 months, up to $25,000. This matching gift initiative could potentially raise $75,000 for the fund in honor of Eric.
Maddie Keerns, a Mt. Vernon player on Eric’s first Marauder team who later coached with Eric, said that night, “Eric’s probably touched more lives in the volleyball world in Indiana than a lot of other coaches. I was lucky enough to be one of them as both a player and later I was able to coach with him two seasons as a colleague.”
Eric is survived by his mother, Barbara Elouise Bulmahn; wife, Monica Bulmahn; children, Jaclyn Lorene Bulmahn, Victoria Elouise Bulmahn, and Cecilia Lee Bulmahn; and siblings, Carol (Jack) Negley and Mark (Connie) Bulmahn. He was preceded in death by his father, Leroy Bulmahn.
Visitation will be held Monday, October 28, from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. at Zion Lutheran Church, 6513 W 300 S, New Palestine. A funeral service will be held on Tuesday, October 29, at 11 a.m. at Zion Lutheran Church. Pastor Jason Taylor will be officiating. Burial will follow at Zion Lutheran Church Cemetery in New Palestine.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Eric Bulmahn Mt. Vernon Legacy Fund, by website at my.onecause.com, or the QR code will be available on the memorial folders at the church.
Friends may share a memory or condolence at www.erleweinmortuary.com. Arrangements are being handled by Erlewein Mortuary & Crematory in Greenfield.
