Tom Pullen
Pioneer High School
Impact Statement
‘This was never work to me. It was all fun, all passion. It was never, never work.” -Tom Pullen
Biography
It’s been more than seven years – April 17, 2000, to be exact – since a Pullen-coached boys team at Pioneer lost a dual meet. They also posted tournament winning streaks of 52 and 50 straight through last season, and are favored to win a seventh consecutive Division 1 team title this spring. In the 2005 and 2006 seasons, Pullen’s boys teams posted a 526-16 match record and combined for 44 state singles or doubles crowns.
Now in his 17th season, Pullen’s boys teams have won a total of eight state titles; his girls teams have won four state crowns and posted a seventh runnerup finish last fall. A retired dentist who was a member of the wrestling team at the University of Michigan, Pullen didn’t take up tennis until the age of 35, but since then has won 10 city doubles championships. He was voted the Michigan High School Tennis Coaches Association’s Division 1 Coach of the Year in 2006.
Since being honored in 2007, Pullen continues to lead Pioneer to success. In 2010, both his Girls’ and Boys’ teams finished second in the state. In 2012, Pioneer named the courts in his honor.
Although he’s retired from his dental practice, Pullen is still actively leading Pioneer’s tennis teams. Most recently, his boys’ team made it to the state finals in 2019.
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