RIP Tom Edwards, Honorary Delt

Tom Edwards passed away on Sunday, December 13, 2015, leaving behind his loving family as well as the many lives he blessed during 60 years of service in Gambier. Tom won 11 OAC swim championships before replacing himself with the indomitable Jim Steen in 1976. Tom continued to serve as Dean of Students until his 1990 retirement from Kenyon College. Tom lived on Kokosing Drive with his wife Gloria, just up the hill from the Delt Lodge. The Delt Lodge was built with Tom’s active support in 1969. Tom represented Kenyon in negotiating the title transfer of the land to the Delts. It was with his approval that Chi Chapter was granted the ability to house Delts at the Lodge and provide the necessary cash flow that sustains the building today.

Personal notes can be sent to:

Mrs. Thomas Edwards
PO Box 249
Gambier, OH 43022

PS…for the swimmers in the crowd, a long ago article in Sports Illustrated, Lords of the Pool, recalls that Tom challenged every Kenyon swimmer to a 25-yard sprint at the end of each season and may very well have never lost!

LORDS OF THE POOL Sir: What a magnificent article on the Kenyon College swimming team (It’s a Real Campus Haunt, Feb. 19). The two paragraphs on Tom Edwards, Kenyon coach from 1955 through 1964, characterized him as “a skilled technician.” Tom was also a skilled swimmer. What you failed to mention and may not even know is that every year near the end of the season Tom would challenge anyone and everyone on the team to a 25-yard sprint in the pool. During my four years at Kenyon he was never defeated. Edwards truly reflects the spirit of Kenyon College swimming. GRANT A. MASON JR., M.D.Co-captain1958-59 Kenyon Swimming Team, Canton, Ohio

Photo from kenyon.edu