If you thought B.A. Barracus was bad, wait until you meet Big Tommy.
After extensive publicity and advertisements on campus, Tom Sirotnak-better known as Big Tommy to friends and admirers-will finally make his appearance at the University today. He will perform at noon outside on the Cambridge Inn quad, weather-permitting, and at 8:30 p.m. in the Reynolds Theater in the Bryan Center.
Ever since the signs began appearing around campus, many have wondered who this Big Tommy character really is. Students have guessed his identity to be anyone from Tom DeLuca to Tom Arnold to even a new Coach Krzyzewski frontcourt recruit.
In truth, Big Tommy is a 6-foot-2, 315 pound former University of Southern California nose guard whose nickname fits very appropriately.
With the ability to crush unopened Sprite cans and tear apart phone books with his bare hands, to slam through stacks of bricks with his forearms and to break out of police handcuffs without the aid of a key, his brute strength is a spectacle to behold.
But that's only the beginning of the feats of might Sirotnak lists as having performed.
"I'd run through two-by-fours and they'd-bam-hit them across my chest and I'd break them," Big Tommy said in an interview. "I'd lay on a bed of nails with 1,200 nails in my back and 800 nails on my chest. They'd put a 450-pound block of ice on my chest, but actually the biggest thing they did was put an 800-pound block of ice on my chest and-boom-took a sledger hammer and broke it in half while I was laying on the bed of nails."
Even more amazing is the story of how Sirotnak, a self-described awkward and unpopular youngster raised in California, was able to pursue his dream of playing Division-I college football in his home state.
"A chubby, uncoordinated youngster, I grew up desperately seeking the approval of other kids," Sirotnak wrote in his book "Warriors."
In an unlikely scenario, much like the one out of the movie "Rudy" in which an undersized, overachieving Notre Dame student walks onto the football team, Big Tommy followed his dreams and enrolled at the USC, a perennial college football powerhouse.
Without a scholarship offer, Sirotnak hoped to earn a roster spot as a walk-on. Amazingly enough, Big Tommy did earn a roster spot-the only walk-on to make the Trojan squad in the past 25 years. Not only did he make the team, but he was later elected a defensive captain his senior year in 1982.
Big Tommy seemed to have it all: a successful career as a college football player and the brute force and physical strength to take down any man in his path. But during his senior year, while the USC football team was in Arizona preparing for the Fiesta Bowl, Sirotnak was confronted at a talk by National Football League Hall of Fame defensive lineman Rosey Grier. Grier challenged him to examine whether his life of partying, drinking and craziness was really bringing fulfillment into his life.
"That's when I realized that I never made Jesus Lord of my life," Big Tommy said. "I still had my areas: the partying, the sex. God finally got a hold of my life and it dramatically changed from that point on."
Following his storied football career, Sirotnak served as the team chaplain for both the USC football and basketball teams from 1983 to 1990, sharing his life experiences with many athletes and showing them the way he discovered meaning in his life.
During that time, he shared his life story with many athletes, such as Jacksonville Jaguars All-Pro quarterback Mark Brunell and USC All-American pole vaulter Eric White. White subsequently changed from a partier nicknamed "Night Crawler" into an individual who now runs centers for potential high school dropouts that help encourage students to stay in high school.
"I hope that people have an open heart and an open mind to hear something that's a little bit different from a different perspective," said Cambridge Christian Fellowship Campus Minister Kevin Primus, who helped organize the event. " I hope no one would stay home because they were not willing to hear something different from what they believe."
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