He started running cross-country in High School. He won the Ambi-Berfer race for High School students in 1967. His high school running coach was Coach Flloyd, whom he still kept in touch with. His 1600yd running record still stands at Michigan State and he was recently inducted into the Bristol High School Hall of Fame. He ran the Boston Marathon twice and had received a tri-marathon medal. He was always proud that in the Boston Marathon he had beaten all the boys from West Point. In college Tom’s cross country team got ranked to go to the NCAA championship, the next day he got hit by a car crossing the street and was holed up with a broken leg for the next several months. It was at that point that his roommate Rueben taught him to play the guitar.