Tom Ecker was raised in Waverly, Iowa and graduated from high school in 1953. He participated in many activities in high school. Tom lettered in football, basketball, and track. It was Track and Field where he excelled. He first qualified for the state meet as a sophomore in the high and low hurdles. During his junior year, he broke a small bone in his foot competing in the high jump during the district meet. In spite of this he still won his first title winning the low hurdles. He suffered another leg injury his senior year during the second game of the football season that would keep him from completing the season and he missed the entire basketball season. Tom recovered in time to compete in the State Indoor meet in Iowa City.
He won four Indoor State Titles. He won the 60-yard high hurdles, the low hurdles, the long jump and the high jump, setting state records in all four events. During his Season outdoor season Tom failed to win the four events only three times, twice in the high jump and once in the long jump. Tom was the first athlete from Waverly High School to compete in the Drake Relays. He won both the high hurdles with a time of 15.5 in the rain and the long jump with a jump of 20′ 5″, which is not a bad jump considering the weather conditions. In his final State Outdoor meet he won the high hurdles in 15.0, the low hurdles in 20.5 and the long jump in 21′ 9.5″. He finished second in the high jump. During his career, Tom won eight titles.
Tom excelled in other areas besides athletics, in high school. He wrote and performed on a weekly comedy radio show on Wartburg’s KWAR-FM. He was also selected as the outstanding performer in a state one-act play competition held in Iowa City.
After graduation Tom enrolled at the University of Iowa. He competed in Track & Filed and won the Big Ten Indoor 600 yd title his senior year. He also ran on several relay teams that won titles at both the Kansas and Drake Relays. Tom became a teacher and a coach in Kentucky following his graduation from Iowa. After three successful years at Elizabethtown, he was named the Head Track Coach at Western Kentucky University. During his tenure, the Hilltoppers won their first conference title, going from last to first. He became a regular lecture at many clinics around the country. He also started his writing career, during which he as authored or co-authored fourteen books. He is best known for his work in the area of biomechanics.
In 1966, Tom was named the coach of the Swedish National team and prepared the m for the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. He has delivered lectures at the 1968, 1972, and 1976 Olympics. He also was a consultant in 1980 and 1984 Olympics. He was the only American presenter at the International Coaches Association meetings at the Olympic Academy in Olympia, Greece in 1986. Tom spent 26 years as an administrator in the Cedar Rapids School System. He now spends his retirement giving lectures on the Olympics on cruise ships. He continues to create word puzzles for major papers around the world. His most popular puzzle, called Wuzzles, is syndicated by King Features, and seen by some 6 ½ million people every day.