Witness Post: Tom Keigler

Tom Keigler ’77 Washington & Lee

Witness Post: Tom Keigler

Tom Keigler is arguably the best defenseman to ever play lacrosse at Washington & Lee. He was a four-year starter, three-time All-American and drew lavish praise from everyone that saw him play. He also was a friend of mine.

McDonogh School

We worked together for six years at McDonogh School in Owings Mills, Maryland. Prior to those years, I had followed his post-collegiate career as a defenseman on the US team headed to the World Games in 1978. Tom was also a talented tennis player, always slicing and slamming winners when was racing in the other direction.

On campus, Tom was known as a prudent and clever deal maker. He was smart, all right. He honed those negotiating skills with Dr. Bill Mules, Headmaster at McDonogh at the time. The Mules/Keigler duo put their collective heads together with the school’s Building & Grounds Committee. At the time more than 250 acres of the rural campus was earmarked for the Corporate Campus. Over 40% of that land was preserved as open space for the enjoyment of corporate residents. The Corporate Campus was marketed as a planned campus setting with ready-to-develop sites; a place where design controls would ensure that the quality campus environment was maintained. Four well-established local corporations (Manekin Corporation, Baltimore Life, Greater Baltimore Medical Center, and T. Rowe Price) opted in and they were off to the races. Keigler and the Buildings & Grounds committee, along with the Board’s Finance Committee were able to establish a perpetual gift to the school, a gift that keeps on giving.

Back to the Lacrosse Hero

Prior to his senior season in college Jack Emmer, the W&L head coach said, “Tom Keigler is the best defenseman in the college game, it’s as simple as that … enjoy him, fans, he’s one in a million.”

Keigler broke in as a starter as a freshman on W&L’s powerful 1974 team that went undefeated in the regular season and reached the semifinals of the NCAA Division I tournament. Keigler then earned third team All-America honors on the 1975 semifinal team and went on to earn first team All-America honors in 1976 and 1977. Keigler finished his career with 638 ground balls, more than any other player in school history.

Over his four seasons, W&L compiled a record of 46-17, advancing to the NCAA tournament each year. Keigler was a two-time recipient of the Wheelwright Memorial Trophy, given to the team’s most valuable player. Keigler played in the 1977 North-South All-Star game and was one of 23 players selected to play for the U.S.A. team in the 1978 World Games in England.

Thomas Keigler

On October 11, 2017, Thomas Norman Keigler died. He was the beloved husband of Barbara Keigler (nee Schermerhorn), dear son of William Sorrell Keigler and the late Myra Keigler (nee Goodling), devoted father of William Thomas Keigler and his wife Lauren Dorsey Keigler, Thomas Edward Keigler and Robert Bradford Keigler, dear brother of Lynn Keigler Pforr.

A Memorial Service will be held on Thursday, October 19, 2017 at 10:30 AM at the Church of the Redeemer, 5603 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21210.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the US Lacrosse Foundation, 2 Loveton Circle, Sparks, MD 21152. www.uslacrosse.org/foundation.

Thomas Keigler, banker and former McDonogh lacrosse coach

By Jacques Kelly | jkelly@baltsun.com

UPDATED: June 30, 2019 at 5:32 AM EDT

Thomas N. Keigler, a banker who had served as McDonogh School’s lacrosse coach after a successful college playing career, died of brain cancer Oct. 11 at Stella Maris Hospice. The Timonium resident was 62.

Born in Baltimore and raised in Rodgers Forge and Wiltondale, he was the son of William Sorrell Keigler, a C.M. Kemp Co. president, and Myra Goodling. He was a 1973 graduate of Towson High School, where he played football and lacrosse. He earned a degree at Washington and Lee University, where he played defense on the lacrosse team. In 1999 he was named to the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

“Tom was one of the greatest lacrosse players at Washington and Lee,” said his coach, Jack Emmer. “He was an outstanding leader and the kind of person who thought of others first. He was a first-team All-American player on two occasions, and he played for the USA National Lacrosse team for two years.”

Tom Keigler, pictured at the Lacrosse Hall of Fame, Sparks, Maryland

Mr. Keigler earned a master’s degree at the University of Virginia, where he also served an assistant lacrosse coach. He later earned a second master’s degree in business administration from Loyola University Maryland.

He became a junior varsity lacrosse coach at Calvert Hall College High School before he was named head coach at McDonogh, where he held the post for eight years. He taught history and was also the school’s assistant headmaster.

“Soon after Tom arrived at McDonogh, he accepted an assignment as assistant headmaster, with an office connecting directly to mine,” said William Mules, the school’s former headmaster, who had watched Mr. Keigler play lacrosse at Washington and Lee. “The door between them was usually wide open. Our collegial relationship was just as close.”

Dr. Mules said that among Mr. Keigler’s assignments was serving as staff to the land use committee of the school’s board of trustees. “Tom supplied the energy and the muscle. His unofficial title was the Dean of Dirt.” Dr. Mules recalled their working relationship: ” ‘Hey, Tom, here’s a challenge. … Get back to me.’ Invariably he would undertake those chores with his characteristic can-do spirit, like a WW II Navy Seabee. When he left the school, I lost a colleague whose humor, kindness, common sense, and temperament supported me every working day.” Dr. Mules also said, “As a lacrosse coach, he turned our program around.”

Mr. Keigler met his future wife, Barbara Schermerhorn, a teacher in the Howard County public schools system, in 1984. They married in 1986.

In 1988, Mr. Keigler left McDonogh to work for Jonas Brodie in the Brodie Organization. He later joined the commercial real estate department at the old Provident Bank. For the past two decades, he was group manager and vice president for Baltimore commercial real estate at M&T Bank.

“Tom was more than a colleague. He was our friend,” said Barbara Simmons, an M&T group vice president and department manager. “He was a mentor to many of us. Tom focused on forging relationships with our clients, colleagues. He put people first. He was trusted, and he was successful.”

Thomas S. Bozzuto, chairman of the Bozzuto Group, a real estate development and construction firm, said, “I have dealt with many banks over the years, and Tom was not just a banker. He was a partner and a gentleman. He helped in good times and in hard times.”

Mr. Keigler played on the men’s paddle tennis and tennis teams at the L’Hirondelle Club, where he served as club president from 1993 to 1994. He was part of a team that won the United States Tennis Association’s Senior National Championship in 2007.

When he could no longer play sports, Mr. Keigler took the family border collie to the fields of St. Paul’s School in Brooklandville, where he threw a tennis ball from his lacrosse stick for her to chase, family members said.

He coached his three sons in the Lutherville Timonium Recreational League in T-ball, baseball, lacrosse, football, basketball, and soccer. He also cheered them on from the sidelines of their high school and college games.

Mr. Keigler enjoyed playing golf and fishing with business associates. He spent part of the winter with family in Naples, Fla. Sadly, he died on his 31st wedding anniversary.

Survivors include his wife, Barbara, a teacher at Forest Ridge Elementary School in Laurel; three sons, William Thomas Keigler of New York City, Thomas Edward Keigler of Baltimore and Robert Bradford Keigler of Timonium; his father, of Naples, Fla.; and a sister, Lynn Keigler Pforr of Timonium.