Hall of Fame
Tom Pukys, a 1990 Malone graduate (Business Administration and Accounting), was a four-year letterman on the Pioneer men’s tennis team. He is also a 1986 graduate of Perry High School.
Pukys helped the Malone teams to impressive records during his tenure at Malone, including a 17-4 overall mark in 1988 when nearly half of the team’s matches that year were against NCAA Div. I teams. During that sophomore season, he posted a 16-6 record in both singles and doubles and helped his team to a district team title and a berth in the NAIA national tournament. Pukys made it to the second round of singles in that year’s NAIA national event. As a junior, he and teammate Olle Sundell won the conference doubles title, notched an incredible undefeated 19-0 record-season doubles mark and eventually lost in the fifth round of the NAIA national tournament to finish with a 23-1 doubles record for the year. The duo earned NAIA All-America honors for the feat which, other than the 1987 NAIA All-America singles honor for Sundell, are the only NAIA All-America accolades in Malone men’s tennis history. As a senior, Pukys posted an impressive 21-2 singles record and an equally stellar 19-3 doubles record with teammate Dave Drummond. He and Drummond went on to win the district doubles title and competed in the NAIA national tournament.
Pukys is the President of the Alliance Area Development Foundation. He and his wife, Jane, and their six children, Samantha (17), Jacob (14), Kayla (12), Ryan (10) and twins Owen and Diana (8), reside in Louisville.
