Mr. Kenneth A. Jensen

Ken Jensen, 69, of Atascadero passed away on March 30, 2013 at a San Luis Obispo hospital. Ken had lived in Atascadero since the 1970's. Growing up in Fresno he was very involved in sports. He quarterbacked his youth football team to the Fresno City Championship and played shortstop on the Babe Ruth All-Stars which played for the State Championship at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles. A multi-sport athlete in high school he was the only junior starter on a state ranked Fresno High Basketball team that in the 1960 season went 17-1, losing only to Berkeley High School, at Berkeley, by one point. In his senior season the Fresno High Warriors were another good team. As leading scorer he had a game against cross town rival McLane where he scored 39 points, and against Washington Union he put in 25 points in the first half. Playing the newer high school (Bullard) up the road he pulled down 16 rebounds, a significant accomplishment for a 6' 1" guard/swingman. He was the number two scorer in the Central San Joaquin Valley. He was selected on the All-League, All-City, All Northern California and All Valley teams. He was part of Coach Lee Angelich's Fresno High School Warriors incredible basetball teams that amassed an epic record of 54 consecutive home wins. During the years 59-61 the Warriors basetball team went 55-4. He batted cleanup on the Fresno High Baseball team that had a couple of pitchers that would play professionally, Dick Selma and Tom Seaver. A knee injury and resulting surgery shortened his football playing days. He was selected as Fresno High School Athlete of the Year in 1961. He still saw his buddies, Fred Austin, Bob Longacre, Larry Allred, and Jim Jacobson from those championship Fresno High School teams. After recruiting trips to Cal and Oregon he accepted an Athletic grant in aid to play basketball for the hometown team, Fresno State. During his playing days there he averaged 12 points a game. During the Southeast Asian conflict he saw a tour of duty as a Sergeant and was stationed in Thailand and Vietnam. He was honorably discharged. Upon return from Southeast Asia he enrolled at San Fernando Valley State University (Cal State Northridge) and received his degree in Business/Accounting. He worked for the Carnation company, Ralph's, Federated stores and as Administrator at the Danish Convalescent in Atascadero. He enjoyed many years playing the golf course at Chalk Mountain with his buddies, Louis Villa, Jerry Arnett, Leroy Trejo, Jim Zanoli, Lonnie Hughey and others. He was preceded in death by his father Roy in 2008. He is survived by his mother Ruth of Atascadero, wife of 40 plus years Nancy of Atascadero, daughters Victoria of Novato, Alison of Bakersfield, son Ryan of New Jersey, brothers Mark of Atascadero and Bob of Sunnyvale, sisters-in-law Sue and Bette, his beloved grandchildren Kasey, Brianna, Lindsey and Scott, Niece Kiki of Camarillo and nephew Dane of Menlo Park.