Bill Jenkins

Athlete (2000)

Tennis

Called by some as the best tennis player Saskatchewan has produced, Bill Jenkins played at an American college level, won a gold medal for Canada at the World Student Games, played for Canada on international tours and then became a professional in Europe in 1992.

Bill was born in Saskatoon on June 4, 1961, where he was a student at Hugh Cairns elementary school and later Walter Murray Collegiate. He learned his basics through the Saskatoon Youth Tennis program and while playing at the Riverside Tennis Club.

Between the ages of 12 to 15, Bill was able to hone his skills playing the game year-round in Nigeria while taking three grades by correspondence course.

He captured his first provincial junior title in the mid-1970s and won several Saskatchewan and Prairie regional championships, both in singles and doubles.

Bill became the Saskatchewan open men's singles champion for the first time as an 18-year-old in 1979, the same season he achieved a No. 5 ranking in Canada for the under-18 age class.

He accepted a four-year scholarship at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, between 1980 and 1984, and during the 1983 season, he helped the Bobcats become American runners-up in NCAA Division II play.

Bill was chosen to play for Canada on tours of Australia and Czechoslovakia in the 1980s and was a gold medallist, playing alongside Jill Hetherington for Canada at the World Student Games at Edmonton in 1983.

He coached the SaskFirst tennis program between 1987 and 1992 before leaving for Europe to join the professional tour in France, Germany, Spain and Portugal. A multiple champion in the Riverside Tennis Club's annual Amok professional tournament, both in singles and doubles, he has often returned to play in the event.

At the time of his induction, Bill was living in Stirling Wendel, France, where Bill continued to teach, coach and play competitive tennis on a full-time basis in France and Germany.