An Extraordinary Life: ‘He was friends with everyone’

JOLIET – When Lynne Scheffler learned that youth basketball referee Tom Seddon, 57, of Joliet had died from leukemia complications she immediately thought “prayers” and searched online for his name.

Scheffler, principal at St. Joseph School in Lockport, made and distributed a prayer card at school and during games. The first home game after Tom’s Jan. 7 death, played against St. Dennis School in Lockport, was dedicated to Tom, Scheffler said.

The school also presented Tom’s family with a framed memorial picture of the prayer card, along with quotes from others about Tom. And at the end of a February tournament, St. Joseph’s athletic association donated the proceeds to Joliet Catholic Academy and the Leukemia Research Foundation in Tom’s memory, Scheffler said.

Scheffler wished she could do more in memory of the man who inspired everyone to be “good sports,” Scheffler said.

“He was a positive, upbeat person that would hustle up and down the court like nobody’s business,” Scheffler said. “He’d say to the kids, ‘Now you can’t do that. I’ll have to call a foul,’ and shake the hands of coaches after games and say, ‘You coached a good game.’ ”

His wife, Janet, said Tom served an Illinois High School Association basketball referee for more than 20 years, a slow-pitch softball umpire for 25 years and a fast-pitch umpire for three years. In 2009, Tom was inducted into the United States Specialty Sports Association Hall of Fame as an umpire.

“He’d go from sport to sport and season to season,” Janet said. “He was my Energizer Bunny.”

Mike Mackey of Joliet, member of the Joliet Basketball Officials and president of the Will County Softball Umpires Association, said both organizations have created scholarships in Tom’s name.

The Joliet Basketball Officials have raised $3,000 for a Joliet Catholic Academy scholarship, Mackey said. And this summer, the Will County Softball Umpires Association will host a social event and a golf outing, as well as sell jacket pins, for a University of Illinois at Chicago scholarship, where Tom’s daughter Christie Seddon attended and played softball.

“He was just a fantastic guy,” Mackey said. “He was friends with everyone, even kids. He never let his problems be known.”

Tom expressed genuine interest in the lives of those he spoke with, and recalled the personal details most people forgot, Janet said.

“He had the ability to talk to anyone and make them feel that they were best friends,” she said.

Janet recalled meeting Tom in a “love-at-first-sight” moment after a game at the former Wild Hammer bar in Crest Hill. She said Tom was proud of his daughters, Christie and Amanda Seddon.

Despite a 13-year leukemia battle, Tom didn’t retired from ComEd until Dec. 30. Janet said. Until the end, when Tom succumbed to complications from a bone marrow transplant, Tom lived fully, touched anyone he met and always, always had fun.

“I just wish God hadn’t taken him so soon,” Janet said. “He could have helped so many other people and impacted so many more lives.”

• To feature someone in “An Extraordinary Life,” contact Denise M. Baran-Unland at 815-280-4122 or dunland@shawmedia.com.