A graduate of San Ramon High School in Danville, Tom enrolled at the University of the Pacific in 1965, where he was a member of the freshman basketball team coached by Denis Willens. In the following three seasons he played for the Pacific Tigers coached by Dick Edwards. In 1968 Tom was voted Most Valuable Player, 2 nd Team All-Northern California as well as 2nd Team All West Coach Athletic Conference. In his junior year he earned Honorable Mention on the All Northern California Team and in his senior year he received the Mr. Team Award. Tom has spent a lifetime promoting sports in the Stockton community. Following graduation from UOP he was an assistant coach for the freshmen basketball team. He later coached the Pacific Men’s Tennis Team. He taught high school Social Studies for the next 20 years at Turlock, Stagg, and Edison High Schools where he coached basketball and tennis. Tom chose to teach at the elementary level for the following fourteen years where he established athletic leagues for 5 th and 6 th grade students at Wilson and Victory Elementary Schools.
These leagues offered coed opportunities for participation in volleyball, flag football, basketball, baseball, and track and field. During these years he managed a baseball team for the Pacific Little League where he served on the Board of Directors. He also coached girls’ softball for the Port City League as well as C.Y.O. Girls’ Basketball. Tom has finished his career coaching girls’ basketball for sixteen years at both Stagg and Lincoln High Schools. In retirement he has written two books, Top Cats, A Golden Era for College Basketball, which saves a piece of history of the sport at his alma mater, and Cat Tales, Stories of College Life with accounts of hijinks as well a high achievement among students on the Pacific campus. Tom is currently working on a third book about the history of football at the College/University of the Pacific.
