The House That Tom Built

In the sports world of 2014, versatility is a word that is probably thrown around the most. This is probably most visible in the National Football League at arguably the most important position in team sports: Quarterback.

In the NFL, the value of a pure pocket passer is slowly dwindling, as offensive coaches seem to be leaning towards quarterbacks who present a dual threat and keep the opposing defensive coordinators up a few extra hours at night. As the Hall of Fame careers of Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Drew Brees come to the final chapters, the likes of Aaron Rodgers, Andrew Luck, Colin Kaepernick, Russell Wilson and others look to become the standard for quarterbacks. These are guys that not only throw the ball from within the confines of the pocket, but who escape and are a threat with their legs while still maintaining the threat to strike downfield with their arms if needed.

Recently, I had the honor of speaking to probably one of the more versatile humans in the sports industry: Tom House.

House came onto the map in 1967, pitching for the University of Southern California. House went 5-3 with a 1.43 ERA in 94 and 2/3 innings in his lone season at USC. Following his college success, the Atlanta Braves selected House in the third round, 48^th overall, in the draft’s secondary phase. This was a much higher pick that what the Cubs had selected him two years prior, as the 201^st overall pick in the 11^th round.

House swiftly went took care of business and made his major league debut on June 23, 1971, pitching one inning in a 6-3 loss to the Montreal Expos. House would go on to play for the Braves through the 1975 season, with his best year as a pro coming in 1974 in which he pitched 102 and 2/3 innings, in which he recorded 11 saves, good for fifth in the National League that season.

 

Tom House

However, his most memorable moment from the 1974 season but was him catching instead of pitching. On April 8, 1974, in the 4^th inning of a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, House’s teammate Hank Aaron swung for his 715^th home run, breaking Babe Ruth’s record. House caught that ball in the bullpen, and when I asked him about his favorite memory from his playing career, he simply said “Catching Hank Aaron’s #715!!!”

House concluded his playing career with the Boston Red Sox and the Seattle Mariners, respectively.

House was not just satisfied with his talented arm, but also used his talented brain to first capture Bachelor’s degree in Management in 1971 from USC, then a Master’s degree in Marketing in 1974 (while playing in the Majors), a second Master’s degree in Sports Psychology in 1981, and finally Ph. D in psychology in 1984.

House started training athletes in the early 1980’s when he was a minor pitching coach for the Houston Astros. He just started informally, but his stature grew by word of mouth, which led to him landing with the Texas Rangers in 1985 and working with Nolan Ryan. When Ryan was inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame, Ryan said that he “was very fortunate to have a pitching coach by the name of Tom House” and that House was a coach that “is always on the cutting edge”.

House has worked as a pitching coach for the San Diego Padres.

Just simply being a pitching coach was not enough for Tom House. From 1987 through 1996, House came out with books that he wrote that include but are not limited to “Teaching Mathematics: Numeration (1987)”, “Power Baseball (1993)”, “Fit to Pitch (1996)”, and others.

All of this led to House receiving the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from American Baseball Coaches Association.

Even after this award, House continued writing books to guide athletes on how to keep a healthy body, such as “Stronger Arms and Upper Body” (2000), “The Picture Perfect Pitcher” (2003), and others.

When I asked House what inspires him to write books, he said, "The biggest inspiration for me to start writing books was trying to disseminate, share information and instruction any way possible."

House has a new book coming out at the end of the year titled "Every Pitcher's Health and Performance Handbook".

As if being a professional athlete, coach, and writer wasn’t enough, Tom House is also the founder of the National Pitching Association (NPA) and The Rod Dedeaux Research and Baseball Institute, two intuitions known for their health and performance research. House uses 3D motion analysis, functional strength screens, mental/emotional profiles and nutritional assessments to help athletes via the NPA. 

But even with founding two institutions, writing books, getting awards, and more, House expanded his resume. House used his scientific studies of throwing to expand beyond his baseball audience. House has worked with future NFL Hall of Famers Tom Brady and Drew Brees, while also helping to rejuvenate the career of Alex Smith and Carson Palmer. House has also worked with the "new generation" quarterbacks such as Terrelle Pryor and Tim Tebow. All kinds of quarterbacks, from many different levels of football go to work with House. When I asked him how he addresses the needs for all these quarterbacks who have such different styles, he said "We have an information/instruction template that we tailor to individual needs. It's relative to issue identification and solution.

Tom House (center) working with Carson Palmer, Matt Cassell, Tom Brady, and Alex Smith (left to right)

In a time that science and research is expanding, House is on top of it all to help his clients. House is currently based in Los Angeles at USC. But in true Tom House fashion, he has said that "in the near future we will be opening NPA facilities across the country in 5 different cities. An announcement to be made by the end of summer." 

Science technology is not the only technology Tom House takes advantage of. When I asked him how he manages to keep in touch with all of his clients, he replied " Video, cell phone, Internet - taking full advantage of media technology...I am on the cell phone always!"

Recently, Tom House added Hollywood to his resume, as he was portrayed in the movie "Million Dollar Arm" by Bill Paxton. Though House conceded he is "not much of Hollywood type", it was a "humbling" experience for him.

In an age where versatility is the name of the game, no human being can compete with the versatility displayed by Tom House from the early days of his life, and all the way till now. Whether it's playing professionally, coaching, writing books, opening institutions, expanding his help, and even being on the red carpet, Tom House does it all, and does it all at the highest levels possible. Though he may not be the name that catches your eye like a Tim Tebow or a Tom Brady, House is just as crucial to the sports world, if not more.

He is building a legacy that is unmatched and is relentless in his pursuit to make a difference.That is why we should all take a step back and appreciate this "house(legacy)" that Tom [House] has built.