Basketball doyen Thomas Fenn passes away

KOCHI:

Thomas J Fenn

, a former international

basketball

referee, died at Chungathil in Alappuzha on Sunday. He was 84. Fenn was a Kerala senior team captain and a coach with the Kerala State Sports Council. As a coach, in 1967, he took the Kerala women's team to the final of the national championship for the first time.


He began his playing career with the KSRTC team in 1957. Fenn was regular as a referee at the All-India Ramu Memorial Basketball Tournament in Mumbai.

"Fenn was a soft-spoken, calm and patient gentleman," remembered PJ Sunny, former BFI national selection committee chairman.

"Fenn Sir's first assignment after his NIS diploma as a basketball coach was in 1966 for a state summer coaching camp in Thrissur and incidentally that was my first camp too. I still remember the tough training those days. He taught us the value of physical fitness to be a good player," said former Indian player Muhammed Iqbal.

Fenn is survived by wife Accama Fen, son

Jacob Fenn

, and daughter-in-law Nisha

Anie Jacob

, both former state players.