2022 Dill Howell Award Recipients continued

Mikal Thomsen

A highlight of Mikal Thomsen’s upbringing in University Place in the 1960s was the opportunity to watch the Tacoma Giants play Triple-A baseball at Cheney Stadium.

After a successful business career, in 2011 Thomsen took on a much more involved role with the hometown team, leading the new ownership group of the Tacoma Rainiers. It was a fulfilling moment for him. When he was just 3 years old, according to the “family folklore,” Thomsen attended the inaugural game at the new Cheney Stadium in April 1960 with his father.

“I grew up going to games at Cheney, watching the Giants and the Cubs and the Twins,” Thomsen said in a story run in the Tacoma News Tribune. “It’s a dream come true to be part of the ownership group of my hometown team. Just wish my Dad had lived long enough to see it.”

Thomsen, who graduated from Curtis High School in 1974 and WSU in 1979, began working for McCaw Communications’ cellular division in 1982. He founded Pacific Northwest Cellular in 1992. After a series of acquisitions and mergers, Thomsen became the COO of Western Wireless in 1994 and Voice Stream in 1996.

Thomsen, who has two sons and lives with his wife in Bellevue, serves on nine boards. That includes the Museum of Glass in Tacoma. He is also on the

Board of Governors of the Washington State University Research Foundation. As the CEO and leader of The Baseball Club of Tacoma—a 15-person group of Tacoma Rainiers owners—Thomsen is driven to make it fun for the fans.

“Success, to me, is making this the best baseball stadium it can be and the best fan experience it can be,” Thomsen said.

Thomsen is experienced in owning sports teams. He was part of an ownership group of the Seattle Sonics, the former NBA team. He was also part owner of the Walla Walla Sweets, an amateur baseball team in the West Coast League.