Tom Gompf

Tom Gompf attended The Ohio State University, where he was second in the springboard at both the NCAAs and AAU meet in his senior year. That year, he was also NCAA champion on the trampoline at the NCAA Gymnastics Championship. After graduating from Ohio State, Gompf served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, flying C-130 cargo planes in Vietnam, and later became a commercial pilot with National, Pan Am, and Delta Airlines. The major victory of his career was in winning the 1963 AAU platform title, although he won the 1964 indoor AAU title. He later won the 1970 and 1971 World Professional High Diving Championship. After retiring from competition he retained an active interest in the sport as coach of the University of Miami diving teams from 1971-82. He also served as a judge at the 1972 Olympics, manager of the USA Olympic diving team in 1976 and 1984, and was a diving official at the 1979 Pan-Am Games and the 1988 Olympics. In 1980 Gompf was a founding member of USA Diving. He later promoted synchronized diving and is considered the father of those events. Gompf was elected into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2010 the US Olympic Committee awarded him the George M. Steinbrenner III Sport Leadership Award, which honors “an outstanding member of the Olympic family.” He is also a member of sports Halls of Fame at both Ohio State and the University of Miami.