By Dave Krider
MaxPreps.com
Tom Lemming, a former baseball player and life-long Chicago Cubs fan, was 23 years old in 1978 and was on the last of several trips to Europe when he faced the moment of truth.
"I was sitting by the pyramids of Egypt and realized I had no future," he vividly recalled. "I came home (to Chicago), went to Wrigley Field and said I'd do anything to get into scouting. I'd even sweep the floors. They gave me the run-around for a long time."
Lemming later had thoughts of starting a Cubs newsletter. Meanwhile, he began writing for some small suburban newspapers. Readers started calling him and asking where certain players - particularly in football - were going to attend college.
That spawned the idea for Tom Lemming's Prep Football Report, which long ago vaulted him into national prominence as the No. 1 guru when it comes to recruiting and analysis of players. Despite his stature today - which includes serving as an analyst for CSTV and being the subject of a book which hits stores later this month - Lemming unashamedly confesses, "Baseball still is my passion - football is just a living."
He played baseball from age six through 18. Though he was on the JV baseball and football teams his freshman and sophomore years at Chicago's Reavis High School, he had his greatest success in Connie Mack baseball where he was named league MVP as a 17-year-old. The 5-10, 150-pound center fielder was the fastest player in the league. He batted over .400 and once stole eight bases in a single game.
Following graduation from Reavis in 1972, Lemming began working to save money for college. However, after a year and a half, he elected to tour Europe "since we never took a family vacation. That (travel) was my education. I stayed in cheap hotels and had the best time of my life. I could get by on $10 a day."
Lemming returned home several times and stayed just long enough to bankroll his next trip. He followed this pattern for nearly five years. He not only visited Egypt, but also hit such high spots as Paris, Istanbul, the Vatican in Rome and even got into the forbidden Kremlin in Moscow. The party finally ended on that eye-opening day at the pyramids.
The transition to football recruiting guru was anything but easy. Lemming truly paid his dues, experiencing many bumps along the road to success. He had to work as a printer, then a mailman for seven years before his magazine began to turn a profit.
"It was always temporary to me," Lemming said of his outside jobs. "It was a tough thing to work two full-time jobs. I remember never going to sleep (about 50 nights per year). There were probably 100 to 150 nights a year I'd get less than four hours of sleep. The worst month is January. Lack of sleep never bothered me. I think I conditioned myself not to sleep much. Sometimes I'd wake up in the middle of the night and write notes or work on my magazine.
"I always had tunnel vision toward the magazine. I always knew I was going to make it, but was just surprised how long it took. From 1985 on it was clear sailing. What really helped was USA Today and ESPN starting, because that gave more national exposure (to him and prep football)."
Lemming became the first - and still the only - football recruiting analyst to visit players throughout the country. "That was my niche," he said proudly. His first trip was to Cincinnati Princeton and Moeller in 1978. He also went to Pittsburgh Central Catholic and then on to New Jersey. "I never passed the Rockies until the early 1980s because I'd run out of money," he noted.
During the first five years he drove his own car and often slept in it. His car had no air conditioning and after one of his earliest trips it had no radio, either, because it was stolen from a restaurant parking lot one day while he was eating.
The classic story of a young, struggling entrepreneur materialized on a bone-chilling November night in Cincinnati as Lemming slept in his car in a Denny's parking lot. "I woke up, got out of my car and fell on my face," he related. "I was completely frozen. People coming out of Denny's thought I was a homeless person. I couldn't move my feet. I sat on the toilet for an hour to thaw out."
For the last 10 years, however, he has had the luxury of driving rental cars and sleeping in hotels. This year he drove 60,000 miles from Christmas until June 1.
Besides his personal meetings with players, he watches "thousands of hours" of film from players' junior years. He sees live games mainly in the Chicago area, but does pick up a few road games. He lists approximately 1,500 players in his magazine and says, "I've seen at least one minute of film on 99.9 percent of them." He has "between 3,000 and 4,000" subscribers. Some are college coaches, but mostly they are just fans, he pointed out.
"There are an awful lot of fanatical people out there whose whole life is recruiting," Lemming says. "A lot of people live their lives through their (favorite college's) recruits. "It's my job, but people always want to talk football. I try to be nice to everybody and return every call, but it bores me out of my mind to talk recruiting all the time. The internet has multiplied everything."
Because he's been in the national spotlight for so long, Lemming is no stranger to controversy. "I'm always accused of being a Notre Dame fan," he conceded. "They always have a high graduation rate and they stand for something. I am not a fan of teams. I am a fan of coaches. I love Lloyd Carr (Michigan coach). For the last 10 years he's been the best recruiter in the country. Buckeye fans accuse me of being a Michigan fan."
When Virginia Tech's All-America cornerback, Jimmy Williams, was graduating from high school, he was having trouble getting into college. He asked Lemming to call five colleges on his behalf, which he did. "(University of) Virginia fans were up in arms," Lemming recalled. Suddenly he was branded a "Virginia Tech fan."
"There's always innuendo that I'm getting paid by certain schools," Lemming said. "I'm usually accused by teams that cheat or are mad at me. There always have been whispers, but nothing ever has been proven. Some schools want me to be a `gopher' for them.
"That bothers me a lot more than being accused of being a fan of certain schools. There is a lot of gossip in college football. Some coaches are like little old ladies. All I have is my good name and integrity."
Lemming is proud of his picks over the years, including the likes of Randy Moss and Peyton Manning. "I was the only one who had Michael Vick," he pointed out. His biggest misses were Barry Sanders and Brett Favre, but everybody else missed them, too.
Besides his magazine, the football guru hosts "Tom Lemming's Generation Next" show which runs weekly from the end of August through February on CSTV. He also will be hosting a new CSTV show this fall called "The Recruit."
On occasion he will write for newspapers, including USA Today. He picks the players for the U.S. Army all-star game in San Antonio each January. The new rival game on ESPN does not bother him. "I'm actually glad," he says. "I have 85 kids in my game and we've needed two games."
Any day now Lemming's autobiography, "Football's Second Season," will be out. It was written by retired Chicago Sun-Times sports writer Taylor Bell. "It wasn't my idea - he asked me a hundred times," Lemming said humbly.
The only thing Lemming refuses to be humble about remains his love for baseball - the Chicago Cubs in particular. "Even on my trips, I stop and see their minor league teams," he admits. He sees "five or 10" Cubs home games per year, but also attends games at many other ball parks across the country.
You see, Tom Lemming receives a coveted "Major League umpires pass" annually, which allows him free entry to every park in the Major Leagues. It's a miracle he has any time left for football!
Football Notes
* Football was literally off and running last week in early-starting Alaska as Soldotna outlasted North Pole, 62-42. Bryce Gardner and Marvin Tate ran for 166 and 156 yards, respectively, for the winners. Todd McCormick ran 29 times for 208 yards for the losers.
* Though it was just a preseason exhibition game, Gaffney (S.C.) surprised Independence (Charlotte, N.C.), 41-35, as Ricco Sanders caught touchdown passes of 59, 57, 49 and 7 yards. Anthony Carruthers connected with Javon Rembert for touchdowns of 46, 12 and 12 yards to pace Independence, which has won 108 consecutive games.
* Alva (Okla.) opponents will be seeing double again this fall as senior twins Mitchell and Tyson Gale hit the gridiron for the final time under the coaching of their father, Steve Gale. Last year Mitchell passed for 1,988 yards and 24 touchdowns. Tyson had 174 tackles and three interceptions as a linebacker.
* Capital Christian (Sacramento, Calif.) quarterback Kramer Hagan has made a commitment to attend Portland State. As a junior the 6-1, 210-pounder passed for 2,407 yards and 19 touchdowns. He threw for 1,720 yards as a sophomore.
* Michigan State has received a commitment from Trenton Robinson, a rising senior who runs a sizzling 4.3 40 and is one of Michigan's premier track sprinters. The 5-10, 175-pounder ran for over 600 yards and seven touchdowns and made six interceptions last year for Central in Bay City, Mich.
* Hal Sparks, age 66, has been named head football coach at Northeast (North East, Md.) after working in real estate and fund raising for the past 27 years. He had excellent success at Baltimore's Mount St. Joseph before retiring in 1980.
* Tyrone Wheatley, an NFL running back for 10 years, has returned to his alma mater, Robichaud (Dearborn Heights, Mich.) as head football coach. The 35-year-old Wheatley hopes to restore the glory which he attained while leading the Bulldogs to state titles in football and track.
Baseball Notes
* The East scored three times in the ninth inning to nip the West, 5-4, in the fifth annual Aflac All-American High School Baseball Classic before a standing-room crowd of 2,725 at San Diego State. Losing pitcher Aaron Hicks (Wilson, Long Beach, Calif.) walked the bases loaded, wild-pitched two runs in, then yielded a game-winning sacrifice fly to MVP Tim Beckham (Griffin, Ga.), who had a triple, walk and drove in three runs. Jack Armstrong (Jupiter, Fla.) struck out four in two scoreless innings to get the victory.
The West was led by catcher Kyle Skipworth (Patriot, Riverside, Calif.), who slammed a two-run homer and also drove in three runs. Outfielder Robbie Grossman (Cy-Fair, Cypress, Texas) made two outstanding catches and also sparkled defensively earlier in the week at the Area Code Games in Long Beach, Calif.
Basketball Notes
* Notre Dame has received a commitment from Natalie Novosel, a leading candidate for Kentucky's Miss Basketball. The 6-0 rising senior averaged 17.9 points and 7.5 rebounds as a junior for national power Lexington Catholic.
* Piedmont (Calif.) guard Casey Morris has made a commitment to the University of California. The 5-8 rising senior averaged 21 points, 8.0 assists, 6.0 rebounds and 4.0 steals last year and has scored 1,358 points in three seasons.
* Jason Washburn, a 6-11 rising senior from Central in Battle Creek, Mich., says he will attend the University of Utah. Washburn is a good shot-blocker with excellent mobility and an effective jump hook.
* Bill Curley, who played seven years in the NBA, is the new head coach at Thayer Academy (Braintree, Mass.). He replaces Rob Dixon, who headed the program for the past 20 years.
Softball Notes
* The Worth Firecrackers (Huntington Beach, Calif.) upset the OC Batbusters (Santa Ana, Calif.), 5-4, to win their first ASA 18-under Gold Nationals title at Oklahoma City, Okla. The Batbusters, who blew a 4-0 lead, had been seeking their fourth title in the past six years.
In the semifinals the Batbusters blanked So. Cal Choppers (Valencia, Calif.) as Cathleen Hosfield (Riverdale, Murfreesboro, Tenn.) out-dueled All-American Jordan Taylor, 4-0. The Firecrackers blanked the Gold Coast Hurricanes (Plantation, Fla.), 6-0, in the semifinals of their bracket.
* Plano (Texas) infielder Brittany Griffiths has made a commitment to the University of Arkansas. As a junior she batted .446, hit four home runs and drove in 31 runs.
Volleyball Notes
* Southern Cal has received a commitment from 6-4 rising sophomore Falyn Fonoimoana of Mira Costa (Huntington Beach, Calif.). Fonoimoana, who helped Mira Costa win the national championship as a freshman, began receiving recruiting letters when she was 12 years old.
* The U.S. National Team posted a 3-5 record and finished 10th during the FIVB Girls Youth Championships in Mexicali, Mexico. U.S. victories were over Tunisia, Mexico and Italy. China defeated Turkey to win the gold medal.
Swimming notes
* Elizabeth Beisel, a rising sophomore from North Kingstown (Saunderstown, R.I.) set four records during the Speedo Junior National Championships in Indianapolis, Ind. They included the 200-meter individual medley, 2:17.21; 400-meter individual medley, 4:48.25; 200-meter backstroke, 2:12.20; and the 100-meter backstroke, 1:03.35.
* Matt Thompson, a rising junior at Jesuit College Prep (Dallas, Texas) also broke four records: 56.30 in the 100-meter backstroke, 2:00.50 in the 200-meter backstroke, 2:05.63 in the 200-meter individual medley and 4:26.41 in the 400-meter individual medley. He also was high scorer with 80 points and led the Dallas Mustangs to their first team title.
Potpourri
* Las Lomas (Walnut Creek, Calif.) rising senior wrestler Jason Welch has made a commitment to Northwestern University. Welch, who has a record of 147-7, won the state title at 152 pounds as a sophomore and 162 during a 50-0 junior campaign.
* Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.) rising senior Ryan Thacher was runner-up in the USTA boys 18 division of the National Hardcourt Tennis Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich. He lost the title match to Michael McClune (Irvine, Calif.), 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.