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TopLaxRecruits.com, Posted 9/8/13
Funeral services will be held Friday for retired Army Lt. Col. Tom Tufts, 65, of Woodbridge, Va., the longtime boys’ lacrosse coach at powerhouse Robinson High School in Fairfax, Va.
He passed away at home on August 31.
The funeral will be held at Fairfax Memorial Funeral Home at 1:00 pm. Visitation will be held at the funeral home on Thursday from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm and from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Tom, a native of Brockton, Mass., was inducted into the Potomac Chapter Hall of the US Lacrosse Hall of Fame as well. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts in 1970 and was a 23-year Army veteran, retiring as a Lt. Col. in 1991.
For more information on Tom’s life, including his contributions to lacrosse, please see the obituary.
Tom attended Oliver Ames High School in North Easton, MA. He did not play high school lacrosse, but was directed to play the sport at UMass under coach Dick Garber. Mr. Tufts was one of “Garber’s Gorillas” and a tri-captain of the 1969 UMass lacrosse team which recorded the only undefeated season in UMass history. He was named an All-American Defenseman.
It was at UMass where Tom met his future bride and wife of 43 years, Susan James Tufts. Upon graduation, he began a 23-year career in the Army. This career took him and his family to Georgia, West Point, Indiana, Korea, Maryland, Virginia, and Hawaii.
Tom retired from the military as a Lt. Colonel in 1991 and moved onto his second career as a high school Guidance Counselor and Lacrosse Coach at Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax, Va. Under Tom’s direction, Robinson became a dominant force in Virginia lacrosse.
He was named Northern Region Coach of the Year in 1991 and 1992 and the Washington Post All-Met Coach of the Year in 1994. With typical modesty, Tom deferred all Region Coach of the Year nominations in subsequent years to other coaches. During his 14 years as head coach at Robinson, Tom amassed an impressive win-loss record of 185-36-1 (.837) to include the Virginia State Championship 7 times. He coached 16 players to high school All-America honors. His squads yielded dozens of players who went on to play for top NCAA lacrosse programs. From Tom’s 1994 team alone, eight players were subsequently selected as college team captains. At the end of the 2004 season, Tom retired as Robinson’s head coach.
Other lacrosse accolades included induction into the US Lacrosse Potomac Chapter Hall of Fame in 2005 and inclusion as an inductee in the inaugural Robinson Secondary School Hall of Fame class in 2013.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Wounded Warrior Project, the Fisher House Foundation, the American Heart Association or the American Cancer Society.
Wounded Warrior Project
PO BOX 758517
Topeka, KS 66675
http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/donate
Fisher House
111 Rockville Pike, Suite 420
Rockville, MD 20850
http://www.fisherhouse.org/donate/index.html
American Heart Association
7272 Greenville Ave.
Dallas, TX 75231
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/
American Cancer Society
971 E. St. NW, Ste 500
Washington, D.C. 20004
http://www.cancer.org/
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