Thomas Black ’32

Abstract

Top Letter Winner Ranked Among Pingry’s Greatest Players.

A known record breaker, “Blackie” lettered 12 times in football, basketball, and baseball, ranking him among Pingry’s most accomplished athletes. Active in track and soccer, he exercised his prowess at baseball for four years as a star shortstop. A basketball player for four years, he led the team as Captain for two years. As Captain-elect of the 1931 Football Team, he was sidelined by injury, but undaunted, stepped into the role of Team Manager. A young man of talent and dedication, he wa voted the best athlete in his class. At Rutgers University, he lettered three times with the 150-pound football team which won 22 straight victories against such worthy opponents as Princeton, Yale, Navy, Penn and Lafayette. Unscored upon in 1935, this team would later be led by Tom Black who was also selected All-Intercollegiate Left End. Outside the world of academe, his athletic skills were tested in 1934 when he helped rescue 15 passengers from the grounded ocean liner Morro Castle, among the nation’s worst mishaps at sea. Remembered and honored in 19994 for his heroism, Tom Black stands as an example of the value of interscholastic athletics in the development of and an individual’s personal character.