Tom Hovey, one of the area's most versatile and enduring athletes, was born October 3, 1929. He was raised in Worcester, Mass., and graduated from Holy Cross. His athletic career was just beginning to take shape when he carne to Utica in 1956 as an engineer for General Electric.

Judging from his string of successes in three sports--golf, running and speedskating -- at the local, state, national and international levels over the past half-century, his abilities appear limitless.

Hovey has spent most of his adult life as a runner. At age 27, he was clocked at a remarkable 48:50 minutes for 10 miles. In middle age, he became a nationally-ranked master's division runner in three distances, 10-kilometer, 15-kilometer and the marathon. And at age 51, he won the age group title in the Cape Cod marathon (2 hours, 46 minutes.)

He has captured the age group award in five marathons, as well as in the Utica Boilermaker Road Race and Berkshire 15K. To date, he has completed 70 marathons. As a member of the Syracuse Chargers in the 1980s, he won two national cross-country championships.

Hovey could be called the father of the Utica Boilermaker, now the nation's largest 15-kilometer road race with more than 9,000 runners. He designed and measured the course leading to its inaugural run in 1977, and obtained its USATF certification.

Golf is another of his beloved and record-setting activities. In 1963, he was the medalist in the qualifying round of the National Public Links Championship, firing a Sunder par at the Schenectady Golf Club. He then lost in the third round of the National Public Links event at Buffalo's Sheridan Park to former British Open and U.S. Amateur champion R.H. Sikes. In 1967, he was the low amateur in the Canadian Open.

Hovey has established course records at seven golf courses in New York State and Massachusetts. In 2001, at age 71, he shot a course record 30 at the nine-hole Otsego Golf Club. He is a two-time winner of the Greater Utica Men's Open at Valley View Golf Club. first at age 37 in 1967, and then in the senior division at age 52 in 1982. He is also assistant golf coach at Hamilton College.

Last, but not least, he qualified [or the 1987 Senior Olympics in spccdskating at both the 400-mcler 1500-meter races. He earned a silver medal at 1,500 meters, and was the only American to make the finals against an international field in Lake Placid.