Tom Deckard

Vocation

Notable

American runner who competed in the 5000 metre event at the 1936 Summer Olympics and held world bests in the 3000-metre indoor and two-mile outdoor steeplechase races. He was one of the world's top middle distance runners in the 1930s. The cancellation of the 1940 Summer Olympic Games due to World War II cost him the opportunity to attempt to qualify for a second Olympics. He was track coach at Bloomington High in 1941–1942 before joining the U.S. Navy, where he served for the duration of the war. Deckard returned to Indiana University in 1946 as head coach of the cross-country team and assistant coach of the track team. In 1948 Deckard moved to Drake University, where he was track head coach and director of the Drake Relays; he resigned the job in late 1954 to become a businessman. Deckard, an entrepreneur, built a highly successful business, Flasher Light and Barricade in Indianapolis, which dominated the Central Indiana construction market for three decades. He died in Indianapolis on 1 July 1982, aged 66. Link to Wikipedia biography