Hall of Fame
Thomas East came to Cheyney as a star track and field athlete form Overbrook High School in Philadelphia in 1937, and graduated with a degree from the Industrial Arts Department from Cheyney State Teachers College in 1941.
While at Cheyney, Tom distinguished himself and helped bring prominence to the Wolves track and field program when he defeated a star studded field and equaled the World Record time of 5.2 seconds to take the title in the 50 meter dash at the PennAC Games in Atlantic City on February 5, 1941.
He was the first Cheyney runner to earn all-conference honors outdoors, with a third-place finish in 1938 in the 100-yard dash and repeated the feat again in 1939. He then went on to capture the title in the 100 in both 1940 and 41 and the 220 title in 1940 with a runner-up finish to teammate Leroy McCloud in 1941.
HIs time of 9.6 in 1940 set a new standard for the meet, which would not be broken, only equaled in 1971, before the conference then went to 100 meters in 1977.
Other accomplishments on the track for Tom included: the Senior A.A.U. Championship in the 50 yard dash in 1940, he placed in a number of meets at Madison Square Garden against the top sprinters in the country, captured the titles in both the 50 and 100 yard dashes at the Junior National A.A.U. Championships in Atlantic City in 1941 and competed in a special 100-yard dash competition and was nosed out in the semi-finals by the eventual winner.
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