Jack Jensen opens his
24rd season at the helm of the Guilford's golf team with 18 national tournament
appearances in 23 years. His 1989 squad won the National Association of Intercollegiate
Athletics (NAIA) championship.Jack Jensen opens his
24rd season at the helm of the Guilford's golf team with 18 national tournament
appearances in 23 years. His 1989 squad won the National Association of Intercollegiate
Athletics (NAIA) championship.
Perhaps better known as the head coach of Guilford’s 1972-73 NAIA national championship men’s basketball team, Jensen assumed the school's golf coaching duties in 1976. From 1985-1990, Guilford finished no lower than sixth at the NAIA tourney and finished second from 1985 to 1987. Guilford captured seven NAIA District 26/Carolinas Athletic Conference titles, which earned Jensen seven District 26 Coach of the Year awards.
Jensen’s success continued in 1992 when Guilford moved from the NAIA to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III ranks. The Quakers placed 11th in their initial NCAA Championship Tournament and have finished as high as fifth (1997) in seven consecutive appearances. On the conference level, the Quakers won the 1992, 1993 and 1998 Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) championships which earned Jensen the ODAC Coach of the Year award in each of the three years.
Many Jensen-coached golfers have enjoyed individual success. Under Jensen’s direction, 14 Guilford students have received 22 performance and six academic All-America honors. Bill Brooks '83 and Rob Odom '87 were the NAIA Tournament medalists in 1983 and 1986, respectively. Odom and Mike Beaver '88 played on the U.S. team in the 1986 World University Games in Italy, where Odom won the gold medal with a first-place finish. Three-time All-American Chris Haarlow '91 qualified for the 1994 U.S. Open. Guilford's Lee Porter '89, a two-time All-American and 1988 World University Games gold medalist, plays on the Professional Golf Association (PGA) Tour. He won the prestigious North-South Amateur in 1989.
A member of the NAIA and Guilford College Sports Halls of Fame, Jensen is one of two people to coach two different teams to NAIA national titles. Future NBA players Bob Kauffman '68, M.L. Carr '73, Greg Jackson '74 and World B. Free, played basketball under Jensen at Guilford. He owns 386 career basketball-coaching victories and guided Guilford to three national basketball tournament appearances. Jensen retired from the basketball coaching ranks in 1999.
A member of Guilford’s coaching staff since 1965, Jensen lives in Greensboro with his wife, Marsha, and their two children. Laura graduated from Guilford in 1997 while Dennis is a baseball player at Guilford.
