Hall of Fame
Tom Crist joined the coaching staff at Shippensburg in the fall of 1949. He served as the head basketball coach and baseball coach from 1950-1960, a total of 11 seasons in each sport, and he was backfield coach for the football team from 1949 to 1961, a total of 13 seasons. He was head coach of the golf team from 1961 to 1985. In addition to his coaching duties Crist was athletic director from 1949 until 1971.
A native of New York City, Crists was a multi-sports athlete at William & Mary. He graduated in 1936 and then earned a master’s degree at Southern Methodist University. At the outbreak of World War II, he joined the Navy and rose to the rank of Lt. Commander by the war’s end. Crist came to Shippensburg in the fall of 1949 as athletic director.
Crist’s best basketball team was his final season in 1960. The Red Raiders set a school record for victories with a mark of 18-5 and they finished second in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC). That record was not broken until 1982 when the team won 19 games. The current school record is 20, a mark that was set in 1991. The winning percentage of .783 is still the best mark since the school became a four year school in the 1926-27 academic year. Crist’s team in 1959, which went 14-8, had set the school record for wins in a season that would be broken the following year. Crist had a record of 113-109 in basketball and a .509 winning percentage.
In baseball, two of Crist’s teams, the 1954 and 1958 clubs, won the PSAC championships. Both those teams had records of 10 wins and three losses. His 1956 team had a record of 12-6 and the team went 11-6-1 in 1957. He finished his baseball coaching career at Shippensburg with a record of 68-66-3 for a .507 winning percentage.
In golf a number of Crist’s teams were undefeated and the Red Raiders were among the top teams in PSAC.
In addition to his duties as a coach and director of athletics, Crist earned a doctorate from the University of Maryland and he chaired the Department of Health and Physical Education from 1959 to 1979. During his tenure as an administrator he helped plan Shippensburg’s 40 acre athletic complex that includes Heiges Field House and Seth Grove Stadium.
Crist retired in 1985 to Monarch Beach, California.
