John Sanny:
CLASS OF 1972
Johnson High SchoolClass of 1972
St. paul, MN
John's Story
Current Certified Tennis Professional with the United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA)
Former Adjunct Instructor - University of Minnesota - 8 - 10 courses - Kinesiology Dept. (One of my courses is still on the books without a date yet.)
Former NCAA Div. III Collegiate Men's and Women's Tennis Coach - University of Northwestern-St. Paul
Former Varsity Girl's Head Tennis Coach - White Bear Lake
Current Inst. at the U. of the Nations - South Pacific Isles, mainly Kingdom of Tonga, Cook Islands, New Zealand, plus India.
Owns and Directs a non-profit - Servanteers Intl. developing communities in the mountains of Jamaica each summer.
After graduating from Johnson High School in '72 I was a pretty lost 18 yr. old heading nowhere fast. I ended up taking off at midnight from my home in January 1973 after losing a steel factory job, guitar in hand, with $35 in my pocket, and traveling around the country on a Greyhound Ameri-Pass for 2 1/2 months. I traveled to Florida and California and everywhere in between, spending my nights on lonely coach buses and waking up in a different city each time. I would look up old Young Life friends I had once met from Castaway and Silver Cliff YL Ranches who were in high school or college, and I'd bum a room from them. I was certainly "On The Loose" as a loner running on empty. I finally caught up with Dave Bonne at Gustavus Adolphus College, my last day on this trip, and he told me that everyone knew I had "blown the scene" and that no one knew where I had gone. That startled me because I didn't think anyone cared. I finally hitch-hiked home the next day, reuniting with my distraught mom and dad. My mom saw me walk up the front yard on Burnquist Street and she just ran and flew into my arms. I'll never forget that. She was 94 in 2017 and passed away in August of that year. Mom also went to Johnson High School, '41. My dad gave me a big bear hug and was speechless. He died in 1996 from prostate cancer. I miss him so deeply.
That next fall of 1974 I entered Northwestern College, met my future wife Diana a few months later, dated for four years, and got married in '78. It's now been 39 years. But at NWC I fulfilled some athletic dreams that JHS never gave me. They never gave it to me because I wasn't very good at the sports I tried out for, except for tennis, and I started low there too. But I actually made the collegiate baseball team (no cuts there) and ended up playing on two conference championship teams and subsequently on two national tournament entry teams, starting at shortstop, third base and left field. It was surreal hearing my name called as I came to bat at nationals in Colorado, facing a pitcher who had already signed a pro contract in the Reds Baseball Association. At least he didn't strike me out! But I had finally physically grown up, feeling strong, and couldn't believe I actually got a hit against St. Cloud State at Municipal Stadium while they pitched a two hitter against us. My senior year I played collegiate tennis instead, and won the first singles conference championship, becoming NWC's first ever tennis champ. That win and my record wouldn't be matched until 2013 with a player I had recruited and coached at NWC. He had been the Iowa HS State Champ.
After graduation from college, I was a youth pastor for 3 years, having our first child, then entered Bethel Theological Seminary for 4 years earning a Masters Certification in Youth Leadership, and then a Masters in Divinity. Soon afterwards, after a short youth pastor stint in Scottsdale, AZ, we moved to Hawaii, (Kona, Big Island) and went through a leadership program at the University of the Nations, which eventually brought us to Japan, Hong Kong, China, and the Philippines. We lived in Kona for almost 10 years, beginning with two kids, and having two more little "keikis" while there - Christopher, Maria, Lael Lani, and Keoni. (University of the Nations is a worldwide university in over 900 locations). While on staff, Diana and I started their first ever university course called the Youth Leader's Training School for Pacific and Asian collegians, hoping to equip them to reach young people in their own island nations and villages. We accomplished this task, and even to this day I am still teaching on cross-cultural topics and youth leadership issues around the world on various University of the Nations campuses. In December, 2017 I will be making my thirteenth trip to the far reaching South Pacific island nation of the Kingdom of Tonga, and teaching through an interpreter. I have had the honor of teaching now in almost every South Pacific nation, plus New Zealand, Europe, India and around the states.
Along with these travels, while in Kona I "broke thru" in my tennis career, winning 6 straight USTA tennis championships at various posh resorts on my way to earning the #1 ranking in Hawaii in 1996 within my division, and was featured on the Big Island TV Sports Channel during this streak. Believe me when I say I earned it, after hav...Expand for more
ing lost in tourneys for 6 straight years. But now I was playing and beating players half my age, a fact that I am unashamedly proud of, since I was then 40 yrs old.
This achievement eventually led to obtaining the head tennis coach position at the University of Northwestern/St. Paul, where I coached the men's and women's teams for 9 years and where I had been their 1st singles and doubles conference champion many years before. During that time, I led both teams to the NCCAA National Tennis Championship Tournaments in Mobile, Alabama and the women's national tourney in Indiana, and was privileged to coach a number of players who achieved All-American status. I was also named our conference's "Coach of the Year" award two different times for the men's and women's teams. During these years I was also lucky enough to win numerous USTA sanctioned tennis tournaments here in the Twin Cities, including the "Slice of Shoreview Open" tourney. I also twice won the Twin City Tennis League Singles Championship and was also the head girl's coach at White Bear Lake HS for 8 years.
During this time I passed the professional certification exam with the US Professional Tennis Association (USPTA) and became an official tennis pro. I signed a professional contract with Head/Penn Sports and after a number of years with them, I have now signed a contract with Wilson Sports. I enjoy receiving the perks of being a USPTA certified pro, free pro racquets, bags, strings and hats. It's a lot of fun hanging around top name tennis professionals at the World Conference On Tennis each year. What a wild ride it's been.
In 2002 we developed our own 501 3c non-profit called Servanteers Intl. that develops large structure facilities (schools, water-catchment systems, hurricane relief centers etc) up in the mountains of Jamaica. Each summer we bring high school and college teams up there for 10 days to "serve", which also includes a Kid's Club for up to 100 Jamaican children. Do you want to come with someday?
My oldest son Christopher is the Director of Technology Services engineer at SlashBlue Inc., a business he and the founder built starting with just the two of them. He and Joelle have our three precious grandchildren and a beautiful home in north Shoreview, MN. Maria graduated from Bethel University in Sports Journalism and was the Chief Executive of Bethel's student senate. After being on staff at Lost Valley Ranch in Colorado, she married Reid, and was the accountant and gov't compliance officer for the newest brewery in Colorado, (Crazy Mountain Brewery in Colorado's Vail Valley) for 5 years. She now works for the Habitat for Humanity Vail Valley team in Colorado as their accountant and runs their office and administrative/executive tasks. She is also on the Vail Valley Young Professionals Association Board, an honored position to be in. Her husband, Reid, an avid hunter, is an engineer for Vail Resorts, which is why we ski free at Beaver Creek!!! Lael graduated from Northwestern in El. Ed. and had played on my collegiate tennis teams there, reaching the doubles finals of the conference tourney one year. For 5 years she was a teen wrangler at Lost Valley Ranch, Colorado, and is now pursuing a teaching career in Fort Collins, Colorado. Keoni, mid-twenties now, after getting a perfect score on his ACT test, got a full academic ride at the U. of Minnesota in Material Science and Engineering. After assessing his direction in life, he is now finishing a Civil Engineering degree at Ohio State U. His senior year of HS he was honored at a Governor's reception and on the field at a Twins Game at Target Field for his remarkable perfect score of 36 on that ACT test.
I taught around 8 - 10 courses in Coaching Theory and Beginning Tennis in the Kinesiology Dept. at the U. of Minnesota for 10 years, recently being replaced by some Grad School Interns for the Beginning Tennis class. My Coaching Theory course is still in the catalog, but no word when it will be offered again. Budget cuts have hurt many adjunct instructors at the U this way. I was privileged to write my own curriculum and actually founded their Coaching Theory course at the U. and so it was an honor to teach it and have so many known Gopher athletes in my classes, many of whom are playing in the pros now. I have also developed a business with Melaleuca, the world's leader in safer-for-your-home products, the best business we have ever worked in (and thankfully it is NOT a multi-level marketing business). This summer it's back to Jamaica again for a construction project with a high school and college age group from various churches, thru our own Servanteers Intl. non-profit, and in 2017 I have already returned from India after a two week teaching stint there, and am heading to the Kingdom of Tonga to teach there in December, and then to New Zealand.
I am living a remarkable, privileged life and family, and it's not over yet! God is so good! And without His grace, I would have gone absolutely nowhere. Sincerely, John
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