Larry Wolfe
When you first meet Tom Kasunic, you’d guess “stand out athlete.” And you’d be right. Tom was captain of his high school football team, earning All-Catholic, All-Metro and Honorable Mention All-State honor, while playing for Austin Catholic Prep in Detroit. He was also an All-League baseball player for the Friars. Later, he played defensive back at NAU before transferring back to Wayne State University in Detroit. He was also a defensive back for the Warriors, but after suffering knee, rib and collarbone injuries, he decided it’d be easier to work his way through college instead of relying on his football scholarship!
Tom graduated from Wayne State with a business degree in 1980, but couldn’t find a decent job thanks to Jimmy Carter and 21.5 percent interest rates! Instead, he returned to Wayne State and earned his MBA. In 1982, he started his career in Business Development and Marketing for TransCanada Pipeline, one of the largest and most sophisticated natural gas transport companies in North America. In September of that year, he not only started his career, but also bought his first house and married his wife Kristen. Quite a busy and memorable month! A few years later, their son, Kevin was born. Kevin’s now working on his MBA at Rice University. Time flies!
Tom spent his entire career in natural gas transport, including 25 years with TransCanada. As a high level business development and marketing executive, Tom was fortunate to be able to travel and entertain on the company’s dime. As a part of his duties, he HAD to attend Super Bowls, Stanley Cup Finals, NCAA Final Fours, World Series games, the Grand Prix and the Breeders Cup. He says the travel opportunities weren’t all roses though because a lot of his travels were to too cold places like Calgary, Winnipeg, Duluth, Green Bay, Milwaukee and the like. That’s one of the reasons he and Kristen now call Sun Lakes home.
He’s now winding down his career, but is still working from home, selling natural gas to commercial and industrial customers as a sales rep for Continuum Energy, a Houston-based integrated energy products and services company. Kristen works as a financial consultant for Henry Ford Hospital. Since both Kristen and Tom are still working, they don’t have a lot of time for travel and other retirement-like activities, but they are both golfers and Tom likes water volleyball and target shooting, too.
And, of course, there is time for softball. Now in his second year playing Sun Lakes softball, Tom is one of our top all-around players, batting over .650, hitting with power and flying around the bases and in the outfield. He’s arguably the fastest guy in the league.
The Kasunics are looking forward to full retirement, but in the interim, they’re still enjoying life to the fullest. Tom says that the two most important decisions you make are who you marry and what you do for a living. He says that, luckily, he got ’em both right!