His last name is Nykerk, but you might as well call him \u201cMr. Traverse City Tennis.\u201d<\/p>\n
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For 50 years, Larry Nykerk coached tennis at Traverse City Central High School, including lengthy dynasties leading both the boys and girls teams. He also built a long-running summer tennis camp that, in 2026, will mark its own half-century milestone. And along the way, he raised tens of thousands of dollars for tennis facilities throughout Traverse City.<\/p>\n
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Traverse City Area Public Schools (TCAPS) will celebrate all those contributions this coming weekend by officially renaming the tennis facility at Central High School in Nykerk\u2019s honor. The new \u201cLarry Nykerk Trojan Tennis Center\u201d will be unveiled at an open-to-the-public ceremony scheduled for Sunday, August 3 at 10am.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI think it was supposed to be a surprise, but my kids are flying in for it, so we had to coordinate a date that they could be there; the whole thing was scheduled around that,\u201d Nykerk laughs. \u201cSo, it\u2019s not a surprise, but it is a huge honor. There have been some movements to try to [rename the facility after me] over the years, but the reason it was never successful is that TCAPS had a policy of not naming anything after anyone until they were…well, dead! I think the only exception was Ida Tompkins.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Tompkins was a 44-year TCAPS employee, and the district\u2019s first-ever female administrator. When she retired in 1994, the district named its (now-former) administration building on Boardman Avenue in her honor. She later served on the TCAPS school board, and was inducted into the Traverse City Central Hall of Fame in 2007. She passed away in 2019.<\/p>\n
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Nykerk, 79, is no stranger to accolades<\/a>. He was inducted into the Michigan Tennis Coaches Hall of Fame in 1999, and was added to the Traverse City Central Hall of Fame alongside Tompkins in 2007. In 2018, he made it into the all-sport Michigan High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame<\/a>, one of just a few Traverse City coaches ever to do so<\/a>. During his tenure at Central, he also won regional coach of the year honors 28 times, was named Michigan tennis coach of the year thrice (in 1984 and 2007 for boys tennis, and in 1997 for girls), and was shortlisted for national coach of the year once, in 2011.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Nykerk\u2019s tennis legacy in Traverse City now reaches back the better part of six decades, to 1968, when he launched a brand-new junior varsity boys tennis program at Central.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s back when Central Grade School was the junior high school,\u201d Nykerk recalls. \u201cNinth grade was at the junior high, and the JV program was mostly ninth graders. So, I\u2019d go over there to meet them, and we\u2019d run over to Thirlby Field for practice, because that\u2019s where we had our JV courts.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Nykerk must have done something right with the JV program, because the very next year, he was promoted to varsity head tennis coach.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n \u201cFrom there, I coached the guys right on through until 1998 or \u201999, then I took a break,\u201d he says. \u201cThe girls team, I picked up in 1981 \u2013 that program had started in the mid-70s, and there were two coaches before me \u2013 and I did that up until 2017.\u201d Nykerk also circled back to the boys varsity squad in 2007, coaching that team again through 2014.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n By the time he called it a day, Nykerk had coached a combined 76 seasons \u2013 40 with boys tennis, 36 with girls. He left TCAPS with a total of 1,050 career meet victories \u2013 more than any other high school tennis coach in Michigan history \u2013 as well as 40 regional championship titles and dozens of state finals appearances. He also coached 65 players to 100 wins or more, and 13 to individual state champion titles.<\/p>\n
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