How badly did William R. Tennison Jr. want to sell stocks? Badly enough to agree to become a car salesman - just to illustrate his salesmanship to the manager of the E.F. Hutton branch where he wanted to work.      Tennison, who says he grew up poor as the son of a farming superintendent with an eighth grade education, vowed he wasn't going to work on a farm or in the mines. He eventually became the first and only member of his family tree to graduate from college. As the final year of an eight-year military stint was ending, Tennison, who was teaching night school at the University of Colorado, decided to look for a job in securities. It was an idea that was planted in his mind by an academic advisor during his college years. He had accepted a teaching fellowship to allow him to complete his doctorate, "but then I fell in with a bunch of stockbrokers in Denver. I started working part-time and said, 'This is for me.' I love it."      Yet, 1971 was not the ideal time to be knocking on brokerage houses' doors looking for a job -- especially for someone still green in retail sales. The E.F. Hutton manager gave him the time of day, but said, "Bill, I like some things about you. But quite frankly, you've never sold anything, and I don't know if you can sell."      Right then and there, Tennison cut a deal, offering to sell anything. "He thought I was goofy, but he said okay," Tennison recalled. With that, Tennison got a job as a car salesman. He left the showroom floor and started going door-to-door in the community to sell his wares. He even drove up to the front door so his customer could take a test drive without visiting the dealership.      "In one month, I was the biggest car salesman this dealership had," he said. The mark of success - he went from driving a Pinto demonstrator to a Thunderbird.      Meanwhile, the Hutton manager couldn't ignore the box of commission slips this young whippersnapper was sending him. Tennison was hired and stayed on with Hutton as a consistent million - dollar producer until the company was sold in 1988.      Today, he's a member of the Board of Directors of D.E. Frey & Company, Inc., and busy conducting seminars to teach rookies the ropes of the business. He lives by the motto over his desk: "If I help enough other people get everything they want out of life . . . I will get everything I can possibly want out of life as well."      Tennison, 52, and his team are on target to gross more than $2 million in commissions this year. In October alone, the group opened more than 50 new accounts. "This will be a record year," he said.      Outside the brokerage business, Tennison and his wife, Kay, are co-presidents of the Chamber of Commerce of Paonia, Co., not far from his Crystal Meadows Ranch resort, where just recently Tennison was up at 4 a.m., cooking breakfast for the elk hunters at the lodge. Tennison also takes a pro-active part in the Rotary Club. Just over a year ago, his teenage daughter, Stephanie Kay, was killed in a car accident. Tennison set up a foundation in her name with a goal of $1 million. He hopes to distribute up to 50 scholarships a year from the foundation's funds.      He also has been focusing his efforts on planned giving for churches and charitable foundations. His ability to direct charitable groups can be seen in the Mesa Senior Center Foundation, which he established to raise and invest capital for ongoing support of the Mesa Senior Citizens Center.

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