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I had the pleasure to meet Tom twice, when as a state UIC, I served as a presenter at the Regional clinics he would conduct back in the early 80's. (Remember those blue hand sized clinic outline 'flip booklets' he used with the bullet points?) Not only was he ahead of his time in umpire training he was doing his own version of power point before anyone ever heard of a PC.
Obviously, I learned a great deal about umpiring just listening to him talk about the craft. One of the fondest memories of my umpiring career was when Tom, seated next to me at a group dinner the night before a clinic, informed me that I had been selected for my first men's major SP national tournament. The icing on the cake…..my UIC at the national was the great Henry Pollard. It was Henry who really gave, this then young umpire in his early 30's, the confidence and direction to take my came to the next level.
Met and worked with Tom just those two times. Spent just that one week umpiring for Henry at the National. Never had occasion to cross paths with either men ever again. Yet in that short time span both, (starting with Tom), had a huge influence on how I developed as an umpire. I can still hear their words 30 years later.
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