Dallas Cowboys fan Mark “Tattoo Mark” Shenefield watches pregame warmups before the team faces the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the season opener at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, September 11, 2022.
Tom Fox/Staff Photographer
For many people who knew Mark Shenefield, Sunday night’s game between the Cowboys and Packers will unfold in a sad and somber atmosphere.
“Tattoo Mark,” as the Cowboys superfan was known, died of a heart attack Oct. 13 at age 64.
His death has deeply affected everyone who shared his passion for the Cowboys, as well as the many people he touched through his acts of kindness.
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“It will be very difficult to watch Sunday’s game without Mark among us,” said Sam Lopez, a San Angelo resident who had known Shenefield for 12 years.
Lopez first met Shenefield at a Cowboys game in Los Angeles.
Shenefield, a lifelong Dallas fan, lived in Whittier, near Los Angeles. He never missed a chance to go to the stadium and watch his Cowboys.
Lopez and a group of Cowboys fans traveled to Los Angeles for that game, and that’s where their friendship began.
“Mark became a great friend of mine. He was kind, friendly and generous,” Lopez said.
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Miguel “Supercowboy” Castellanos , of Grand Prairie, and Mark “Tattoo Mark” Shenefield ham it up together before the first half of a NFL football game between the Carolina Panthers and the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium parking lot in Arlington, TX on Sunday, October 3, 2021. (John F. Rhodes / Special Contributor)
John F. Rhodes/Special Contributor
Shenefield was retired and had no family, except for a niece who lives in Southern California.
Shenefield’s parents and grandmother died from heart-related problems.
Knowing that his family’s genetics could one day deal him the same fate as his closest relatives, Shenefield made a decision: to leave Los Angeles and move to Arlington so he could spend whatever time he had left as close as possible to his beloved Cowboys.
That is how Shenefield came to North Texas and rented an apartment in the complex directly across from AT&T Stadium.
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His passion for the Cowboys and the way he showed it quickly made him an icon among the team’s fans.
Shenefield’s body was covered in tattoos. “At least 23 of them were related to the Cowboys”, Lopez said.
The most striking was a tattoo of Emmitt Smith that covered nearly his entire back.
According to Lopez, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones once referred to Shenefield as the Cowboys’ “walking billboard.”
Dallas Cowboys fan “Tattoo Mark” Shenefield shows off one of his tattoos, a memorial to Texas Stadium, while waiting for his team to take the field for practice at training camp on Sunday, Aug. 2, 2015, in Oxnard, Calif. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News)
Smiley N. Pool – Staff Photographer
The day before he died, Shenefield was with a CBS crew filming a promotional spot for a Cowboys game.
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“The next day, we didn’t hear from him, and then I got the news that he had been found dead,” Lopez said. “It’s a shame. Just last week, we got together to plan a cruise in December. He was very excited about the trip.”
Shenefield was a fixture at Cowboys home games.
He could be seen walking through the AT&T Stadium parking lots, cheering for his team and interacting with fans.
People loved him, Lopez said, because his presence alone radiated joy and positivity.
Although he lived on a fixed income, Shenefield attended every Cowboys home game and sometimes traveled to watch the team on the road.
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His passion for the Cowboys wasn’t the only thing that set him apart.
Six years ago, Shenefield founded the Tattoo Mark Foundation, a nonprofit organization that collects new teddy bears for children receiving treatment at hospitals throughout the area.
“Mark loved children. I think it was because he never had children of his own. And since he didn’t have a family, he poured his heart into children,” Lopez said.
Shenefield struggled with his weight, and because of his family’s medical history, he felt his time might be coming.
“That was the main reason he created the foundation. He wanted to leave a legacy of love and be an example of helping the community,” Lopez said.
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Dozens of messages of condolence for Shenefield’s death have appeared on social media.
The nine years he spent in North Texas were enough to leave a deep impression on many people.
“Mark was like my brother. We spent a lot of time together. His death has affected me deeply,” said Jose Maturino, a member of Rowdy Nation Tailgating, of which Shenefield was also a part.
Maturino and Shenefield attended Thursday night’s game together at AT&T Stadium, where the Cowboys lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Two days later, Maturino went to Shenefield’s home to visit him and spend the afternoon together.
Their conversation turned to a premonition of what would happen a couple of days later.
“Mark was still really upset about the loss to Tampa and told me, ‘I don’t think I’ll ever see the Cowboys win another Super Bowl in my life.’”
Shenefield’s body remains at a local morgue. His friends set up a GoFundMe account to raise the money needed to send his remains back to California. In Whittier, his niece will bury him next to his mother, as he had wished.
On Sunday, Rowdy Nation Tailgating will hold a watch party at Bombshells Restaurant & Bar in Arlington to celebrate Shenefield’s life.
Before the Cowboys vs. Packers kickoff, Shenefield’s friends and loved ones will release balloons in his memory in the venue’s parking lot.
“Blue and white balloons will reach him in the sky,” Maturino said. “The colors of the team Mark loved so much.”
Dallas Cowboys fan Mark “Tattoo Mark” Shenefield cheers during a draft party for the first round of the NFL Draft at The Star in Frisco on Thursday, April 25, 2024.
Smiley N. Pool/Staff Photographer