Thomas A. Slade (April 6, 1952 - November 12, 2006) was an American football quarterback playing for the University of Michigan Wolverines football team from 1971-73.
Video Tom Slade
SMA Saginaw
Slade was born in Manotick, Michigan, but grew up in Saginaw, Michigan after being adopted. He plays soccer, basketball and tennis for Saginaw High School and earned All-State awards in football as a quarterback in Saginaw High School. Slade married a former Michigan University cheerleader, Pam St. John. He has two children, Andrew and Spencer from a previous marriage.
Maps Tom Slade
Quarterback at University of Michigan
After graduating from Saginaw High in 1970, Slade attended the University of Michigan where he played quarterback under coach Bo Schembechler. As a second year student in 1971, Slade helped lead the 1971 team to an 11-0 unbeaten record in the regular season. The Wolverines narrowly missed the national championship that year, losing to a 1972 Rose Bowl game, 13-12, on a late field goal by Stanford. More than to his death, Slade was known as a formidable run-blocker who cleared the way for Billy Taylor and another Wolverine who ran back after he handed the ball. Dennis Franklin took over as a quarterback in 1972, and Slade spent his junior and senior years in reserve for Franklin.
Professional career
After graduating from U-M, Slade returned to study at the U-M School of Dentistry and received his Doctor of Dental Surgery in 1978. He taught at the U-M School of Dentistry for three years before starting his own practice in 1981 in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan. Bo Schembechler is one of his dental clients. Slade is also a dentist for the athletic team of Eastern Michigan University.
Slade also works as a color analyst for the broadcast of Michigan football at WUOM-FM.
In his spare time, Slade is a high school basketball associate at the Basketball Association of Michigan and leads a number of state finals. He also serves as Big Ten and Mid-American Conference women's basketball coaches. He was active in the Ypsilanti Regional Chamber of Commerce and served a three-year tenure as president of the EMU Baseball "Dugout Club."
In 2004, he was inducted into the Saginaw County of Fame Sports Hall.
Fight with leukemia
In 2005, Slade was diagnosed with leukemia. In June 2006, former U-M teammates, including Calvin O'Neal, organized the Tom Slade Marrow Donor Registration Drive to help find the marrow donors for Slade and others with leukemia. At the time, Slade noted that he could not do the things he liked, like playing golf, running, and enjoying the outdoors. He offers this counsel: "You do everything, live every day to the fullest.This can be the last day of your life." Terry Camp, "Mid-Michigan football legend needs help," WJRT-TV.
Slade remains close to his former coach, Bo Schembechler. The trainer sends weekly notes and is often called and visited after Slade is diagnosed with leukemia. "During a very difficult day at the hospital, Slade wakes up to see his former coach sitting in a chair on the wall, staring at each other but saying nothing, and Slade returns to sleep.When he wakes up again five hours later, Bo is sitting in the same chair , look at him. "Slade died on November 12, 2006 in Ann Arbor at the age of 54.
Although Schembechler himself was ill, he attended the Slade funeral. That night, Bo conveyed the evening chats of the night before the Ohio State game. According to the Detroit News: "Bo's speech is not about Ohio State, the title of the Big Ten or national champions.These speeches are about Tom Slade and how, if the players work hard, listen to their coach and stuck together as teammates, one day they might be just as good with Michigan men as Slade - that's the goal in Michigan, not the national championship. "The next morning, Schembechler collapsed and died of heart failure before recording his weekly television show.
References
External links
- Obituary Slade from USA Today
- Slade Profile from Saginaw Valley Hall of Fame
- Articles and Photos from Tom Slade Bone Marrow Drive
- "Mid-Michigan football legend needs help"
- EMU Obituaries for Slade
- Michigan: Wherever You Go ?, by Jim Cnockaert, The chapter on Slade starts at p.Ã, 162.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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