Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 2010
Jensen joined the Guilford coaching staff in 1965 after coaching basketball at Elkin (N.C.) High School. As an assistant to fellow Wake Hall of Famer Jerry Steele for five seasons, Jensen helped the Quakers to a 114-36 record and four trips to the NAIA national basketball tournament.
He became the head coach in 1970 when Steele departed for the American Basketball Association. In 1973, Jensen led the Quakers to the NAIA basketball national championship, the Quakers' first national title of any kind. With future NBA stars M.L. Carr and World B. Free (then known as Lloyd Free), Guilford became the first unseeded team to win the basketball national title.
Jensen also led Guilford to three national championships as men's golf coach. He guided the Quakers to the NAIA golf title in 1989 and the NCAA Division III crowns in 2002 and 2005.
Jensen, who took over as golf coach in 1976, is a member of the NAIA, North Carolina and Guilford College Sports Halls of Fame. In 2008, he was inducted in to the Golf Coaches of America Hall of Fame. He is a three-time winner of the Dave Williams National Coach of the Year award. Jensen remains one of just two people who coached teams that won national NAIA championships in two different sports.
Jensen was inducted into the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame on Sept. 19, 2009. He passed away shortly after returning from a Guilford golf tournament in March 2010.
