Dr. Tom Waddell - Inductee

Entering college on a track scholarship to pursue a pre-med major, Tom Waddell earned his M.D. in 1965. Drafted into the Army in 1966, Waddell became a preventative-medicine officer and paratrooper. When he realized he would be sent to Vietnam he voiced his moral opposition to war. Instead of court-martialing him, the Army sent Waddell to study tropical diseases and later to train as a decathlete for the 1968 Olympics. The oldest member of the U.S. Olympic team, he placed sixth. A subsequent knee injury dashed his hopes of making the 1972 team. Relocating to San Francisco in 1974, he established a private practice and immersed himself in gay life. In June 1976 Waddell and his then lover, Charles Deaton, were the first homosexuals to appear in the ‘Couples’ section of People Magazine. In 1981 Waddell had the idea to organize a gay sporting event modeled on the Olympics. Weeks prior to the first Gay Olympics in 1982, the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) sued Waddell’s organization over the use of the word ‘Olympics,’ claiming that association with the gay community would taint the brand. Though Waddell renamed the competition “The Gay Games,” the USOC sued to recover its legal costs. In 1981, while working on the Games, Waddell met public relations specialist Zohn Artman, who became his lover, and lesbian athlete Sara Lewinstein, with whom he conceived a daughter, Jessica, born in 1983. To secure Jessica and Sara’s rights following his diagnosis with AIDS, Waddell and Lewinstein married in 1985. Despite his illness, he competed in Gay Games II in 1986 and won Gold in the javelin event. In life as in sports, Waddell’s motto was always “Winning is doing your best.” He died from an AIDS-related illness on July 11, 1987 at the age of 49. The Gay Games continue to be held every four years throughout the world, dedicated to Waddell’s memory.