Ken Tippery excelled in athletics in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1949, Taylor Township had no high schools, so Tippery attended Lowrey High School in East Dearborn, where he was a star in football, baseball, and basketball. He played baseball at the University of Michigan, earning All-America and All-Big Ten status as a middle infielder in 1957.
Tippery received pro baseball offers from 12 of the 16 Major League teams and played in the Baltimore Orioles organization until May 1958, when he was drafted into the Army.
In the early 1960s, he helped get Little League baseball started in Taylor.