University Southern California Trojans
Heritage Association Spotlight: Tom Capehart
August 30, 2019 | Men's Swimming & Diving, Men's Water Polo, Trojan Athletic Fund, Features
In 1952, the Boston Red Sox offered Tom a contract and it was a dream come true. However, Coach Langley urged him to give the offer serious consideration. He told him that there was great value in getting a college degree and that he should consider finishing high school and going on to play at the University level. Capehart took his advice and turned down the offer. Coach Langley, who had attended USC himself, set up meetings for Tom at USC and Stanford among other top collegiate school. But, his meeting with Coach Jess Hill was the most influential and Tom agreed to attend USC on a football scholarship.
At the time, freshmen weren't allowed to play on the varsity football team, but Tom excelled as a freshman and was named team captain for the USC vs. Stanford game, which was ironic because Stanford had been a close second choice for him. After football season, he went out for the freshman basketball team and had a successful season as well until an injury put him in the hospital. "I remember that hospital stay specifically because when I awoke from surgery the next morning, they told me my dad had died. It was a sad time." Overall, Tom was adjusting well during his freshman year. It did however take him a while to adjust to the class sizes – he graduated from a high school that had 300 students total and his first lecture hall at USC had over 500 students. Still, Tom says he "was enjoying every minute of being at SC".
Things took a turn sophomore year for Tom, though. During his first varsity football game, he suffered a compound fracture in his leg that ended his football season. The injury was so severe that the Athletic Department wouldn't let him play basketball or football anymore. Tom was devastated, but continued his studies and stayed close with his teammates. One day during physical therapy, some of his football teammates dared him to try out for the water polo team. Tom took them up on the dare and went out for practice. His first practice, he was told to guard Bob Hughes, who was arguably one of the best water polo players of the time having competed on a national team and an Olympic team. He was bigger than Tom, but Tom held his own against the super star. After that first practice, Tom went to the locker room having almost drown Hughes and thought for sure a fight would ensue. But Hughes respected his tenacity and he and the coaches welcomed him onto the team. He would go on to letter three years as a water polo player.
After his success in water polo, Capehart decided to go out for the swimming team. To everyone's surprise, he made that team as well. He recalls his unfortunate nickname though, "the puker" because even though he made the team, he was never able to finish all 20 warm up laps without vomiting. "I still won meets though!" says Capehart. In total, Tom competed in four sports while at USC, one of the very few to do so.
Tom also participated in Greek life while at USC and was president of Kappa Sigma his junior year. While attending various Greek life functions, Tom would always make a point to ask his fellow students what their father's did for a living. One recurring answer was that they were in the life insurance business. He took night classes and eventually got licensed and soon started selling life insurance on campus as just a junior. "You'd be amazed how many policies I had on my friends!"
Unfortunately, Tom was never able to earn his official degree because he had one class left to finish and they only offered it every other year. He had met his future wife while at SC and couldn't take the time nor could he afford to wait a whole year to go back to school. Instead, he got married, started his family and opened his own life insurance company which proved to be very successful over the years. "I had a marvelous career and was able to open offices all around Southern California."
Tom says that he enjoyed every minute of being at SC and is a generous supporter of the University. He attends games with his family and is looking forward to another football season cheering on the Men of Troy. His advice for the current student-athletes is to "enjoy the time while you're there and don't forget that education is the most important part of the experience."
