"You could tell from the beginning that Tom was going to be a special competitor for us," said John Thomas, who was an assistant coach on the Terrier track team when Tom Mahan competed. "He was a tough, hard-working runner and there was no air about him. When practice was over, he always remained to get in extra work.
"You knew that he would be one of the best hurdlers in New England. It's when he got onto the national scene that you realized just how special he was."
At the time Mahan enrolled at Boston University, the track team was a small band of athletes who wanted to compete. Coached by Hall of Famers, Billy Smith and Thomas, the team traveled to meets in two cars that were owned by the coaches. As a result, it was common to see a runner entered in several events. For Mahan, those events were the sprints, the relays and the hurdles.
In the end, hurdles won out.
During the 1977-78 and 1978-79 seasons, no one dominated the hurdles in New England more than Mahan did.
His best year was in 1977-78 when he won 11 of the 15 meets in which he competed. During the indoor season, he won the 60-yard high hurdles at the Greater Boston and Yankee Conference championships, while he was third at the Eastern Championships and qualified for the NCAAs. There, he ran a 7.38 seconds in the trials and advanced to the quarterfinals where he clocked a 7.38 seconds.
Unfortunately, that time was just off the mark needed to advance to the semifinals.
Then, during the outdoor season, he won the Yankee Conference 60-yard high hurdles and the New England 110-meter high hurdles. He finished sixth at the Eastern championships and qualified for the NCAAs.
During his senior year of 1978-79, Mahan went 8-0. The highlights came when he won the Greater Boston titles in both the 60-yard high hurdles indoors and the 110-meter high hurdles outdoors. He also won the New England 120-yard high hurdles. His indoor time of 7.1 seconds in the 55-meter high hurdles and 13.77 seconds outdoors in the 110-meter high hurdles eclipsed the records of Hall of Famer David Hemery. What's more, the 13.77 seconds ranked as the eighth-fastest in the U.S. and 22nd-fastest in the world.
Nearly 25 years after he last competed for the Terriers, his times were still school records.
