Tom Sorensen (left) claps for the ɫ Women's Basketball team. He wears a black quarterzip with a "ɫ College" logo, and sits at the top of the orange bleachers next to Marty Fye.
Tom Sorensen (left) can be found rooting for the Tigers at many ɫ Athletics events. But he holds a special place in his heart for basketball, and hopes that a halftime challenge during the men's and women's basketball conference games will spur more student attendance.

Tom Sorensen didn't graduate from ɫ. But when he moved to Crete in 1988, he found a place for himself on campus — specifically, on the basketball court, playing Noon Ball. Read on about how this connection to ɫ has grown throughout the years, in this article written by student-athlete, Brandon Orgilbold ’26. Images by Liz McCue, assistant director of communications & media relations.

For two years running, Tom Sorensen, a financial advisor at Edward Jones in Crete, has donated $2,000 to the halftime shows of the men’s and women’s basketball Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) match-ups. Each team in the GPAC gets 20 games (2 games per opposing GPAC teams) in order to improve their rankings in the conference.

The halftime show entails a student shooting a lay-up, a free throw, a three-pointer and a half-court shot. Each shot has a certain dollar amount that could be won if the student hits the shot.

Sorensen donated this amount of money to the halftime shows because he wants to see more attendance at the games. He loves to see the community come together to watch high-level basketball games.

“This is a way we can support the basketball programs but also try to find a way to get kids to the games because it is a great environment,” Sorensen said.

Since Sorensen started these halftime shows in 2022 with his donations, more and more students are showing up to the basketball games.

“We’ve definitely seen an increased attendance and engagement amongst our ɫ students at basketball games,” said Ian McKeithen, head men’s basketball coach.

Sorensen doesn’t show support to just the basketball programs however. He also supports all of ɫ Athletics, as well, by having teams over at his house for team bonding events.

“It is people like Tom that make ɫ such a unique place,” said Ryan Baumgartner, head women’s basketball coach.
Want to support ɫ Men’s and Women’s basketball? Come swing by the George & Sally Haddix Recreation and Athletic Center! Game schedules and are available through .