Marvin S. "Tom" Tommervik, Jr.

Marvin "Tom" Tommervik Jr. joins his father as one of the few father-and-son duos to earn induction into the Tacoma-Pierce County Athletic Hall of Fame, Marv Sr. for his exploits as an athlete and coach at Pacific Lutheran College, and Tom for his many accomplishments as a high school and college athlete.

Born June 8, 1944, in Farragut, Idaho, Tom was a three-sport standout at Franklin Pierce High School, earning All-Puget Sound League honors in football, basketball and baseball in the late 1950s and early 1960s. As a quarterback, he led his team to the league title and to a fourth-place finish at state. In basketball, under coach Del Schafer, he averaged 18 points per game and helped FPHS to the state tournament. As a baseball pitcher, he was 7-1 and earned all-state honors. He was so good, in fact, that the 1962 graduate received athletic scholarship offers from three different schools for three different sports - Stanford for football, Washington State for basketball, and Washington for the combination of basketball and baseball. Perhaps the hardest decision he ever made was picking Washington State and head coach Marv Harshman over the local school, Pacific Lutheran College. "As a youngster I went to all of the PLC basketball games when Marv Harshman was coaching and because my dad and Harsh were teammates and such good friends. I was torn. If Dad had said anything, I'd have gone to PLC for basketball, but he let me make up my own mind." By then, Harshman had left Pacific Lutheran College for the Palouse. "Finally in July, Harsh called me up and said, 'Hey, don't you think it's about time that you made a decision?' Deep down, all those years, I knew I wanted to play for Harsh, and so it was an easy decision to go to WSU."

Tom earned three letters playing basketball for Washington State from 1963-66. He was highly regarded for his speed and the ability to lead the fast break. Playing at a time when freshmen weren't allowed to play varsity basketball, Tom ended up playing 77 games for the Cougars, averaging 8.4 points during his career. During his senior year, he was team captain, averaged 13 points per game (third best on the team) and earned all-coast honors.