Kenneth L. Tams

Born July 7, 1949, in Ontario, Oregon, Ken Tams attended Payette schools from kindergarten through graduation and became one of the most dominant wrestlers in Pirate history. A four-year football and wrestling athlete who also competed three years in track and one in baseball, Tams captured back-to-back Idaho State Wrestling Championships at heavyweight in 1966 and 1967, compiling a career record of 50-0-1. He served as a delegate to American Legion Boys State and was honored with Payette High School's Harmon Killebrew Award as Outstanding Athlete his senior year. Tams earned a full wrestling scholarship to Brigham Young University, where he competed from 1967 to 1971 — four years on the varsity wrestling squad plus one season of football. At the Western Athletic Conference championships he finished second at heavyweight in 1970 before winning the conference title in 1971, earning All-Conference honors and a first-place finish at NCAA District 7. He completed his Bachelor of Science in Education at Boise State University in 1972-73, serving as an undergraduate assistant wrestling coach, then began a career in education at St. Maries High School teaching history and social studies. Over the decades that followed, Tams gave back to the sport that shaped him — seven years as an assistant football coach, two years as an assistant high school wrestling coach, and twelve years as a head wrestling coach, along with four years as athletic director. He founded and ran a youth wrestling program for 25 years and was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, Idaho Chapter. Tams married Kathy Dorendorf in 1974, a partnership now in its fifth decade. They are the parents of two children: son Chris, a civil engineer with the Washington Department of Transportation, and daughter Amanda, a paramedic and captain with Northern Lakes Fire.