Hall of Fame

WHO-TV’s Keith Murphy has referred to Tom as “Mr. Newton.”

Tom is a 1967 graduate of Newton High School. While at NHS, he served on the student council and was a seven-time varsity letter winner in football, basketball, and track as an athlete and student manager.

He graduated from Truman State University (Missouri) in 1972. While at Truman, he was named Lt. Governor for the Missouri-Arkansas district for Circle K, a college division of Kiwanis International.

After working a short while in southern California, Tom came home to work in marketing and sales for the Maytag Co. Tom left Maytag in 2004 and has been with Newton schools ever since.

Tom was also involved with Boy Scouts for nearly 20 years. He was an assistant scout master and helped mentor 56 young men to the rank of Eagle Scout.

Since 1979, Tom has been a five-time cancer survivor. In 1992, he was diagnosed with stage four lymphoma. This experience inspired him to go forth and live life to the fullest.

Tom has always been active in the Newton community and its schools. He is a two-time past president of the Newton Community Theater. He was named “Distinguished Past President” of Newton Noon Kiwanis Club by the Iowa-Nebraska district of Kiwanis International. While he was president, the club created the Newton “Golden K” Club. Tom also started the Builders Club at Berg Middle School. Additionally, he reinstated the Key Club at Newton High School, in which his son Steve, has been a long-time advisor to the club.

Tom’s abiding love has been Newton athletics. For the past 41 years, he has been a volunteer and/or an assistant coach for track, cross country, football, and basketball. He joined the football staff as an assistant coach in the late 1990s where he has been involved in football operations, statistics, and the team’s kicking coach. In the past 15 years, he is proud to say, he had seven All District kickers, and two All State kickers. Two of his kickers advanced to play at the Division One level. One became an NCAA all-American and ended up playing in the NFL for the Buffalo Bills. But Tom says it was not as a kicker that he accomplished these goals, although Tim would like to feel he contributed to his NFL success. Tom also spent 11 years as an assistant basketball coach. This is where he was a part of the 2017 Newton state tournament team.

Tom is one of six generations of his family to attend and graduate from Newton High School. This includes his mother Mary Jean (Class of 1946); sister Nancy (class of 1971); wife Susan (class of 1974). Additionally, sons, Tom, Jr. who is in the NHS Hall of Fame, (class of 2001); Steve, (class of 2004); and Ukrainian daughter, Alla, who attended NHS in 1993-94. Now his granddaughters are students in Newton Schools.