During his legendary hall of fame career at Atlantic Christian College (now Barton), men’s tennis coach Tom Parham relied heavily upon a pipeline of international players, particularly from Sweden. The last – and one of the best – in that line was Thomas Linne, whom Parham described as “a very strong boy, six foot five, tough as nails and looked like Alice Cooper.”

“Thomas was a very talented kid,” Parham said. “As a junior he was ranked No. 4 in Sweden, and that was during the (Bjorn) Borg era, when Sweden dominated the tennis world. Thomas almost ended up in the professional world.”

Linne’s intimidating presence also fit well with another sport revered in Sweden, ice hockey. Linne played that sport as well as a youth, once again displaying elite-level talent.

“I was actually a better hockey player than tennis player, and had offers from the best hockey clubs in Stockholm,” Linne said. “However, when I was 13, I had to choose between tennis and hockey, and my dad recommended that I choose tennis. He did so mostly for logistical purposes, since my brother and sister played tennis at the same tennis club.”

He spent the final years of his youth at SALK, an elite-level club whose membership previously included Borg.

“Thomas was just a great athlete, could have been a high-level hockey player,” Parham said. “It was unusual to be that big and that talented. He had a shot at being a pro. He got right on the edge of sponsorship, but they picked three people instead of four and he was fourth. It let him down psychologically, and he was rebounding from not quite getting where he wanted to be. But talent, I don’t know that we ever had anyone more talented.”

Linne was recruited to ACC by Eddie Gwaltney during Parham’s two-year hiatus from tennis to serve as athletic director. Linne accepted the opportunity at the urging of his friend, Johan Sturen.

“Johan had attended ACC the year before and asked if I was interested,” Linne said. “The combination of tennis and education was a good one for me.”

And the combination of Sturen and Linne was a good one for ACC. Together, they reached the national semifinals of the NAIA Championships in doubles twice, earning All-America honors in the process.

Linne had numerous individual accomplishments, including beating Sturen in the finals of the 1982 NAIA district tournament, but the highlight of his career was being part of Atlantic Christian’s 1984 NAIA National Championship team.

“Winning the championship really set ACC on the map,” Linne said. “By winning the championship, hopefully we created an interest for future students to attend ACC, and not only tennis people.”

Linne said coming to ACC provided him with lifelong friendships that he cherishes even more than that national title.

“Winning the championship in ‘84 was fantastic, but what made ACC great was all the friendly people,” he said. “I still keep in touch with a lot of friends and not only my teammates. I also came to like Wilson as a town and made lots of friends even with people not attending ACC. Coming from a big city, I really appreciated living in Wilson.”

He will now have a permanent tie to Wilson as a member of the Barton Athletic Hall of Fame, where he will join Sturen (2007 inductee), two teammates from the national championship team, Krister Ericksson (1999 inductee) and Jagadish Gowda (2013 inductee), and Coach Parham (1986 inductee).

There were times when having Linne and Parham in the same room might not have been such a good idea. Linne says that “Coach Parham and I are two people with strong wills,” and Parham characterizes both himself and Linne as “hard-headed.” There were several heated arguments followed by extended periods of silence between the two men.

Over time, however, both came to appreciate the other.

Parham admired the fact that Linne persevered in completing his degree requirements, even though “Thomas had never been real enthusiastic about being a student and going to class.”

Linne, in turn, realized the value of Parham’s coaching experience.

“During my last year he wanted me to play doubles with (Johan) Samuelsson, and I insisted on playing with (Stefan) Vanemo,” Linne said. “That did not work out. … Samuelsson and I would probably have had a good chance in the nationals. He definitely had an eye for picking out the best doubles team. During my four years, he managed to lift our doubles team to perform better than expected.”

Eleven years after their national championship season, Parham spent three weeks in Sweden, visiting his former players in a gathering that would have seemed unlikely in 1984. On Friday, Oct. 19, they will be reunited once more – if only in spirit – this time as fellow hall of famers.