WALLA WALLA — When Bob Thomsen arrived on the Whitman College campus more than a half a century ago, he was a 38-year-old former U.S. Navy Lieutenant with a sizeable football coaching resume looking to establish himself at the collegiate level.
A 1934 graduate of the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, Thomsen had paid his dues in the high school ranks coaching multiple sports at his old hometown of Wahapton, N.D., as well as several schools in southern Minnesota up until 1943
"That's when Uncle Sam tapped me," Thomsen recollected. "I picked up my mail and found out I was in the navy. I had 30 days to report."
Thomsen spent his first two years teaching air navigation in Pensacola, Fla., and the final six months as an air traffic controller in Hawaii. After completing his military duty, he returned to teaching and coaching in 1946 and then went back to school in 1950. He earned his Master of Arts degree in 1950 and his doctorate in 1952 at the University of Wyoming.
And that's when he turned his eyes west.
"After graduating in 1952, I broadcast all over the west coast that I was available," Thomsen remembered. "Whitman had an unexpected opening and asked if I was interested. I was married, had a child and no job, so, yes, I was available. "Although I had never heard of Whitman College, it didn't make any difference. I also had never heard of Walla Walla. I was a babe in the woods."
Thomsen began his Whitman career as an assistant football and a physical education instructor. He was promoted to Dean of Men in his second year and replaced Joe Beidler as the Missionaries head football coach in 1955, his fourth year at the college. The Missionaries posted winning records in five of Thomsen's seven seasons as head football coach. Thomsen's 1959 team won its first four games, including a victory over Pacific in the Northwest Conference opener that drew 2,500 fans to Borleske Stadium.
"I think that Bob Burgess and I developed a program from practically zero to a pretty darn solid program," Thomsen said. The late Burgess, who came to Whitman in 1949, was best known for his success as the Missionaries' tennis coach but wore many other hats, including athletic director, men's basketball coach and assistant football coach.
Thomsen, as it turned out, became best known at Whitman not as a football coach but as the school's men's golf coach, a position he held for 17 seasons after being replaced as football coach. The Missionaries finished no worse than second in the NWC during 12 of those seasons, and they won five consecutive conference titles beginning in 1966. Thomsen's 1969 squad posted a 20-2 record in dual matches and his 1970 team won the conference title by 65 strokes.
Whitman won its last NWC men's golf title under Thomsen in 1978. And it was a memorable one.
"That was the year Whitman dropped its football program," Thomsen remembered. "We were back on top, but Lewis & Clark insisted we be penalized since we had dropped football. "We played the conference tournament up in Spokane. We won and they (NWC officials) didn't know what to do, so they decided that Whitman was the tournament champion and Lewis and Clark was the conference champion. We sat outside the awards banquet and chanted: 'We're No. 1!, We're No. 1!'"
Thomsen said he got greater pleasure coaching golf than he did football.
"You have closer communication with players in golf," he said. "We had just one car to go to all of the matches, so we scrummed together and got to know each other. And we had some really good kids in those days. We won that first championship in 1966 and shook everybody up."
Thomsen was also the school's cross country coach for nine seasons in addition to serving as the Dean of Men and the chairman of the physical education department. He retired in 1979. That was 35 years ago and Thomsen was 65 at the time. Saturday at Cordiner Hall he will celebrate his 100th birthday, surrounded by family and friends and former athletes.
"I know it's going to be very emotional," Thomsen said of the celebration, which will be from 4:30 to 6 p.m. and is by invitation. "I'm going to be seeing a bunch of guys I haven't seen in 40 or 50 years. I'm hoping some of them can make it."
Whitman athletic director Dean Snider, who had the honor of inducting Thomsen into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame several years ago, looks forward to the occasion. "This is all about Bob, and we are helping in the process of honoring him," Snider said. "He has given an amazing amount to Whitman College over the years and he was always outstanding in what he did.
"It has been a real privilege for me these last eight years as athletic director to get to know Bob," Snider added. "He is remarkably healthy and mobile, and he is at our offices quite regularly, always asking how the recruiting is going and who do we need him to talk to. He's really interested and engaged and it has been fun to get to know him these last several years."
There was never an inclination, Thomsen said, to leave Walla Walla during his retirement years.
"North Dakota and Minnesota are not good places to retire," he said. "My folks had moved to Arizona and that wasn't in our plans either. So we decided to stay right here. "We enjoyed the weather, liked the people and had lots going for us. I think I was one of the few faculty members who kind of spread out a little bit. I belonged to various organizations, like the Shriners and the Elks and the Masons and Rotary.
"I really felt like I helped Whitman get acquainted with Walla Walla."
