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High School  

J.T. Tomes will hit Harvard books

Pascagoula senior also will play ball

By MIKE WOTEN
mwoten@sunherald.com

PASCAGOULA --

When J.T. Tomes was in the first grade, he rode the school bus with all of the players of the Moss Point High School baseball team.

For his father, J.T. Sr. - the coach - and his childhood friend, manager Scott Sisson, the younger Tomes provided hours of entertainment to the players.

"When J.T. Jr. would ride with us, the players used to ask him to spell the names of dinosaurs, " the elder Tomes said. "They were amazed at how a little 6-year-old could spell them."

That was just the beginning of the amazement that the younger Tomes would display.

After graduating from Pascagoula High School this spring, he will be attending the hallowed grounds of arguably the most outstanding place of higher learning in the world - Harvard in Cambridge, Mass. - on a full academic scholarship.

Tomes, a National Merit Scholarship finalist, scored a 33 on the ACT.

He will also play baseball for Harvard.

"I went to Boston three weeks ago with my parents and I loved it," Tomes said. "The campus, the baseball coach as well as the players were extremely nice and I felt very welcome right from the start."

The idea of playing baseball and attending classes at a prestigious Ivy League school is something that will find Tomes a very busy young man come September.

"The coach stated that at Harvard, schoolwork comes first," Tomes said. "Most of our road games are within a day's drive so I won't be to far away from school."

Tomes' mother, Geri, said her son's love for books came from being exposed to reading at an early age.

"I used to read to Beatrix Potter's books to him everyday," Geri Tomes said. "His vocabulary grew very fast and he couldn't get enough of those stories."

Tomes' father credits J.T.'s exposure to the discipline of sports, and his firsthand witnessing of the rewards of hard work at an early age, as keys to his success.

"Gosh, he grew up on the baseball fields and football fields with Coach Sisson and I," the elder Tomes said. "He saw what hard work and dedication did for young people and the goals they achieved."

Pascagoula High School principal Cynthia Jackson is proud of the humble example that J.T. sets for other students and the way he represents the school.

"J.T. is just a genuine person, he doesn't pretend to be something he is not," Jackson said. "He is a great leader for others by example, our faculty and staff think so much of him."

Tomes' coaches echo the sentiment and will not only miss his athletic ability on the field but the character he brings to their teams.

"He was just like having an assistant coach on the field," Sisson said. "We place a lot of emphasis on schoolwork with our student-athletes and J.T. was a solid example for his teammates."

Baseball coach Johnny Olsen remembers one distinctive thing about Tomes.

"Wherever we went on the bus, J.T. had a book with him," Olsen said. "There is no doubt in my mind that he will be successful at Harvard both in the classroom and on the baseball diamond."

Tomes' younger brother, Will, respects what he has done on the baseball field and the classroom.

"I have always looked up to J.T. and what he represents," he said.

"I have tried to be very observant all of my life," J.T. Tomes said. "I try to listen and learn from everyone, not just a few but everyone."

Tomes' trek towards a degree in engineering or business begins in September.

He is the third Coast athlete to attend Harvard over the past 40 years, starting with Biloxi High offensive lineman Mike Wallace in 1969. Wallace is now an attorney in Jackson.

"Politics, sports management or the business world interest me," Tomes said. "I will see how things go and follow in the direction that it takes me."