Hall of Fame
Theron Thomsen, known to all of us as "Tommy," coached three sports at Coe for three years. In those nine possible seasons, his teams won six Midwest Conference Championships. Tommy was line coach under head football coach Dick Clausen. Together they led the Kohawks to the 1952 title. His baseball teams of 1953, 1954, and 1955 were all Conference Champions. But, of all the achievements he remembers most fondly from Coe, Tommy's basketball teams are at the top of his fund of memories. In 1952-53, the team had its first better-than-500 season in several years. Then, in 1953-54, the Kohawks won their first Conference Championship in a long time. Because he was a local boy himself, a graduate of Immaculate Conception High School, and the University of Iowa, Tommy was especially proud that seven of the top players were from Cedar Rapids or adjoining towns. The peak experience came in 1954-55 when his squad won a three-state playoff to advance to the National Tournament. Tommy Thomsen left Coe to coach basketball and baseball at Creighton University in Omaha for four years. There, one of his baseball players was Hall of Famer Bob Gibson, former St. Louis Cardinal pitcher. In a radical change of lifestyle, Tommy left coaching to join the rapidly growing Life Investors Company in Cedar Rapids. He worked for Life Investors for 30 years and, when he retired as a Senior Vice President, he had been with the firm longer than any other employee. Tommy left coaching for business, but he didn't leave sports. He was a respected football and basketball official in both the Big Ten and the Big Eight. His skill as an official earned him invitations to officiate in three Bowl games, the Orange Bowl, the Cotton Bowl, and the Rose Bowl. After retiring as an official, he was an observer of officials for the Big Ten. Tommy Thomsen takes great pride in his years of association with Coe. In turn, Coe College has great pride in being able to call Tommy Thomsen one of its own. Player, coach, official, and successful leader - Tommy Thomsen has earned, through distinguished performance, his membership in the Kohawk Athletic Hall of Fame.
