Jack Thommen believed in power of tennis

Jack Thommen of Edina was a Minnesota college tennis champion and tireless advocate for a game he believed had virtues beyond the court.

Thommen, an educator and a founder of the Urban Tennis Program for children, died of melanoma on Oct. 22 in Edina. He was 80.

In the early 1970s, he cofounded Urban Tennis, a joint project of Minneapolis parks and Minneapolis schools.

"He always said tennis did so much for me that I wanted to share it with other young people," said his son Wade of Edina.

He helped lead the group for at least 20 years and would personally pay for promising young players to attend a tennis summer camp at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn., said Steve Wilkinson, Gustavus' tennis coach and the camp director.

"He strongly believed that the mind and body went together, and he was interested in their education and their sports," said Wilkinson.

Greg Wicklund of Edina, head tennis pro at the Edina Country Club, said Thommen was always giving balls and racquets to children.

"He was always so enthusiastic, and he cared about all the kids," said Wicklund.

In the 1930s, growing up in Minneapolis, neighborhood friends had hired famed player Bobby Riggs to give them tennis lessons. They invited Thommen to join in.

When he was in high school, he was a championship player. After graduating in 1946 from Southwest High School in Minneapolis, he joined the Army Air Forces, assigned to play on a military team.

After military service, he played for Gustavus Adolphus, taking the 1949 MIAC singles championship.

During the 1940s, he was a nationally ranked player, according to his family.

In 1953, he joined the Minneapolis public schools, teaching elementary and junior high school, and later becoming an administrator.

In 1968, he became a pioneering manager of the school district's community education program, providing adult education and after-school programs for children.

He also helped found and lead the Minnesota Community Education Association. He retired in 1990.

He was inducted into the United States Tennis Association Northern Section Hall of Fame and the Gustavus Adolphus Tennis Hall of Fame.

His wife, Joyce, died in 1999.