Tom Evans

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How cool would it be to be called – “Touchdown Tommy” on a team called the “Touchdown Terrors?” Pretty darn cool it was, for Touchdown Tommy Evans, a halfback for the West Pittston Rams. In his senior season of 1953, Evans and the Pittston Rams. In his senior season of 1953, Evans and the Rams went 10-0 and scored 487 points. That was just under a 50-point per game average and was considered a state record at the time. Evans ran back a kickoff 92 yards for a TD. The next time Exeter kicked he bobbed the ball and it rolled back to within inches of the goal line. He picked it up and whatya think happened? He ran 100 yards for a TD. West Pittston won 62-12. Yeah he was fast. He was a sprinter for the track team which won four championships. Evans scored 33 TDs in his junior and senior seasons in 20 games of which the Rams won 19. Though Evans had the nickname in his senior season, fullback Bernie Wierbowski actually scored more TDs, 22 to Tommy’s 16. The other halfback was Soupy Lepore. Skip Sheriden was the quarterback. Evans – who played around 5’7” and 160 lbs. – said the Rams had a tactical advantage. In his junior season a coach named Tom Dean came in from out of the area and changed the offense from the single wing – where the ball was snapped directly to one of the backs – to the wing T with the quarterback under center. The next year coach Jack Jones kept the split T. “The teams we played were running the single wing. They tried the split T, but didn’t know how to run it. Those guys who coached us did. They changed football in the area. They were ahead of their time.” The run backs versus Exeter notwithstanding, Evans said he doesn’t have a single standout memory. “Just that we had a good team, that was it. It’s just that we stressed teamwork. Everybody did his job.” Tommy and his wife Patricia have five children, seven grandchildren and give great grandchildren. He is retired from the Pope and Talbot Paper Mill where he worked 43 years. He also worked delivering drugs to nursing homes. He and his wife reside in Exeter area. In November of 2011 Tom was inducted by his alma mater into Wyoming Area’s Ring of Pride. At 75, it was a thrill and an honor for him and his family. Now at 79, it’s really exceptional.