Jack A. Tompkins (June 2, 1909 – October 11, 1993) was an American baseball and ice hockey player, airline executive and civic leader in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. As a high school student in

Royal Oak, Michigan Royal Oak is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Metro Detroit, Detroit, Royal Oak is located roughly north of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 cens ...

, he won 27 consecutive baseball games as a pitcher, still a Michigan high school record. At the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

, he was captain of the baseball and hockey teams in 1932. He worked for more than 30 years for

American Airlines American Airlines, Inc. is a major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, and is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the ...

in Detroit and became a civic leader in the area, working to bring the Olympic Games to Detroit from the 1940s to the 1960s and founding the

Great Lakes Invitational The Great Lakes Invitational (GLI) is a four-team National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men's ice hockey tournament held annually at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan, around the New Year's holiday. It was previously held in D ...

hockey tournament in 1965.

Youth in Royal Oak, Michigan

Tompkins was raised in

and graduated from

Royal Oak High School Royal Oak High School (ROHS) is a public high school located in Royal Oak, Michigan. The principal is Don Loomis. It is a part of Royal Oak Schools. History Royal Oak High School is a 2006 consolidation of former intra-city rivals Royal O ...

in 1928. In high school Tompkins earned 16 varsity letters. He pitched four no-hit no-run games and led the baseball team in hitting as it won 33 straight games and 2 state championships. He set a state high school record with 27 consecutive wins, still the record recognized by the

Michigan High School Athletic Association The Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) is a service organization for high school sports in Michigan and is headquartered in East Lansing, Michigan, East Lansing. It is a member of the National Federation of State High School Assoc ...

. He was inducted into the Royal Oak High School Hall of Fame in 1997.

University of Michigan

In the fall of 1928, Tompkins enrolled at the

where he was a star athlete as a pitcher in baseball and a goaltender in ice hockey. He played every minute of every game during his three years on the Wolverines hockey team and was elected captain as a senior in the 1931–1932 season. Michigan won the Big Ten Conference hockey championship in Tompkins' sophomore and junior years, and Tompkins was an All-American in his senior year. He was also named to the All-American Collegiate Hockey team on three occasions. In baseball, Tompkins was a three-year player as a pitcher. He was named captain of the Michigan baseball team in 1932, making him the first Michigan athlete to be elected captain of two different varsity sports teams in the same year. He was inducted into the

University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor The University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor, founded in 1978, recognizes University of Michigan#Athletics, University of Michigan sportsperson, athletes, Coach (sports), coaches, and administrators who have made significant contributions to t ...

in 1982.

Professional career and community service

After graduating from Michigan, Tompkins played professional baseball for several years with a

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

farm club and professional hockey in the International and National Leagues under contract with the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

. In 1935, Tompkins began a career with

, the company for which he continued to work for more than 30 years. He was the Detroit area manager for the airline. In 1945, Tompkins led the effort to have the

Civil Aeronautics Board The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) was an agency of the federal government of the United States, formed in 1940 from a split of the Civil Aeronautics Authority and abolished in 1985, that regulated aviation services (including scheduled passe ...

designate Detroit as one of six American cities to be terminals for flights to the major cities of Europe. Tompkins announced that American Airlines would provide service to Norway, Sweden, Helsinki, Leningrad, Moscow, Glasgow, London, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Warsaw, Berlin and the Azores. In 1946, Tompkins was appointed to the Detroit Olympic Committee, a local group working to bring the

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The 1896 Summer Olympics, inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, ...

to Detroit. During his 20 years on the committee, Tompkins participated in the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

's site selection process five times:

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

(5th place),

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

(4th place),

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

(3rd place),

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

(2nd place),

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

(2nd place) and

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

(4th place). Tompkins also served numerous community organizations, including the boards of the Detroit Convention and Tourist Bureau, the

Boy Scouts of America Scouting America is the largest scouting organization and one of the largest List of youth organizations, youth organizations in the United States, with over 1 million youth, including nearly 200,000 female participants. Founded as the Boy Sco ...

, the Boys' Committee of Detroit, Economic Club of Detroit, the Downtown Property Owners Association, the Washington Boulevard Association and Travelers' Aid Society. He was the chairman of Detroit's International Air Fairs in 1950, 1951, and 1952, a board member for the Michigan Aeronautics and Space Association, a trustee of the Michigan Aviation Foundation, and a member of the Aviation Advisory Committee of the Detroit Board of Commerce. In 1971, he was elected vice president of the University of Michigan graduate "M" Club. In 1965, Tompkins co-founded the

hockey tournament. At that time, only one American played a significant role on any NHL team. Seeking to improve the prospects for Americans to play in the NHL, a group led by Tompkins, Michigan Tech's legendary hockey coach John MacInnes, and

Olympia Stadium Detroit Olympia, also known as Olympia Stadium, was a multi-purpose arena in Detroit. Nicknamed "The Old Red Barn", it was best known as the home of the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL) from its opening in 1927 to 1979. Hist ...

manager Lincoln Cavalieri, and

's scout Jack Paterson decided to organize a prestigious hockey tournament to be played every year in Detroit. Since 1965, the tournament has been held every year in Detroit between Christmas and New Year's.

Family

Tompkins married and had three children, a son and two daughters, all born in the 1950s. Tompkins lived with this family in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tompkins, Jack Michigan Wolverines men's ice hockey players Michigan Wolverines baseball players Sportspeople from Royal Oak, Michigan 1909 births 1993 deaths

Youth in Royal Oak, Michigan

University of Michigan

Professional career and community service

Family

See also

References