RAPID CITY- The term "all-around athlete" is bandied about to the point of being a cliche, but few claiming the title of multi-sport luminary would stand up in comparison to Jack Tennyson.

You name it in the wide world of sports, from football, basketball, track, figure skating and softball, to auto racing, bowling, dancing, hunting and fishing, Tennyson could do it.

And he did it all very well.

Tennyson, a lifelong resident of Rapid City, died suddenly of a heart attack on Nov. 27. He was just 57.

"For someone who lived for a short time, he lived a very full life," said his wife Rennie, at the family home in North Rapid City.

That's the part of town where Tennyson grew up, the son of Francis and Pauline Tennyson, where he was a standout athlete at then North Junior High and later at Rapid City High School, now Rapid City Central High School.

Tennyson played football, basketball and ran track for the Cobblers from 1968 through 1970.

Former Cobbler basketball coach Dave Strain said Tennyson was one of the few underclassmen that rated a roster spot on the Central varsity.

"I think there were only three sophomores that I brought up in 25 years, so that tells you something," Strain said at a players reunion at the Lakota Nation Invitational in December.

Strain said Tennyson's jumping ability, gained through his participation in pairs roller skating, set him apart.

"He could play where others couldn't go," said Strain.

Tennyson was part of the Cobblers state Class A boys basketball team that claimed the 1969 state Class A championship with a 24-1 record. He was an all-state and all-tournament selection his junior and senior year.

Tennyson was also a record-setting hurdler and made good use of his speed on the gridiron.

Then-Journal sports writer Ron Wood covered the inaugural crosstown football clash between Rapid City Stevens and Rapid City Central in 1969, where Tennyson returned a kickoff for a touchdown in the third quarter of a game eventually won by Stevens, 28-20.

"Two ladies in the stands chanted 'All the way back, Jack!' and Tennyson responded, breaking three tackles at the 25 and two more downfield," Wood wrote.

Tennyson's 90-yard romp gave the Cobblers a 20-13 lead, but Stevens, led by quarterback Dave Collins, countered with 15 unanswered points for the win.

Tennyson graduated in 1970, but his sports career was just getting warmed up.

Forsaking college to take over the family radiator repair business after his father's death, Tennyson stayed active in the local sports scene, earning statewide respect for his fast-pitch softball abilities.

"Being a big ol' lefthander just 46 feet away, he could throw the ball very hard," said teammate Terry Hill, a Stevens grad who was on the receiving end of Tennyson's blazing fastball, riseball and a mean knuckleball.

"When that thing was working, it was hard to catch as a catcher," Hill said.

Hill recalled a tournament in Mitchell, facing an Iowa team that had qualified for the ASA men's national tournament the previous year. A radar gun had both pitchers throwing in excess of 100 miles per hour. Tennyson's heat was clocked at 106 mph.

"It was one of those games that the pitchers dominated and we lost 1-0. Both pitchers were in the 100s, throwing smoke at the catchers," Hill said. "Jack was an amazing pitcher and he could throw all day. He was a clutch hitter. If you needed that hit he would always come through."

Auto racing was another passion for Tennyson. He drove modifieds and sprint cars at Black Hills Speedway, winning the sprint car point title for car owner Andy Loban in 1978.

"He was so big, I couldn't figure out how he could get into a sprint car, but once he got into it, he was very smooth," recalled former driver Sam Liebig of Rapid City.

"We went around a lot of corners an inch apart and he never bobbled. He was a smooth driver, not aggressive like some of them. He was just right there all the time."

It was a hot August Saturday in 1978 when Tennyson threw three games in the state Class A men's fastpitch softball tournament, winning two of them.

Swapping his softball uniform for a fireproof auto racing uniform, Tennyson coaxed his large frame into a form-fitting seat of Loban's No. 33 sprinter and dusted the field at Black Hills Speedway that night, sweeping both the heat race and the main event to wrap up the sprint championship.

"I didn't even know about that part (softball)," said Liebig. "He said it was just something he liked to do. I didn't know he was a hot dog, but then he was a hot dog at everything he did."

That was something else that set Tennyson apart, a total athletic package wrapped in humility, his friends said.

"He wasn't one of those guys who'd pat himself on the back and tell you how good he was," Liebig said. "He was just ol' Jack."

Tennyson was also an active hunter and loved to fish. He also coached midget football and also took up dancing with Rennie.

"He was about as smooth on the dance floor as anybody I've ever seen," said Liebig. "He was good at anything he tried."

Jack and Rennie had begun working on property in Chamberlain, where they planned to retire in just a few short years.

That all changed on Thanksgiving Day.

Jack sat down to relax and await holiday dinner at his mother-in-law's house at Johnson Siding west of Rapid City.

"About 1:10 p.m. my mom called him to come and cut the turkey," said daughter Kandi Lewis. "There was no response. It was done, just that quick. There was no pain. We didn't hear a sound."

It was a sudden and shocking end for someone still relatively young and so active, but Lewis said she finds comfort in the fact that her Dad was vital to the end.

"You have to live life to the fullest, and I'm left with some peace because he did," she said. "He had a very good life."