After 37 years of working at Arlington High School, Current Arlington athletic director Tom Roys announces his retirement at the end of the 25-26 school year after his long successful run at Arlington.
Success is defined as the accomplishment of a desired aim, purpose, or goal. For many, it’s usually an individualistic concrete goal they have in mind. For Roys, it’s not measured as a personal goal for himself, but rather an outcome that includes the young athletes around him.
“As long as we help kids reach their potential in all aspects of their life, that’s really what athletics is about. It’s about helping them not just be in school, but something that is going to carry them when they get outside of high school and through the rest of their life…That’s how we know whether we’ve done our job or not.” Roys said. “Success from my lens is measured in, did you reach your potential?”
Not many people get the responsibility of handling a school’s athletics. While certain schools are built around having a strong athletic program, Arlington comes from a diverse community where everyone deserves an equal opportunity to compete or collaborate in activities they love.
“One thing that I’m proud about is we have had every sport in the 18 years that I’ve been here [as athletic director] qualify for a state tournament…That’s a consistency thing, and I’m proud of that.”He added that, “It’s not just an athletic piece, it’s an art piece, it’s a band piece, it’s a theater piece, robotics, FFA, culinary, you can be a shop kid. I mean, there is literally something, we have a nerd club for crying out loud… there is literally something for everybody at Arlington High School. And we have such good people that are here in order to help raise up the next generation,” Roys said.
Being an athletic director isn’t an easy job, for Roys it came with great things to remember and be part of. At certain times it becomes difficult to enforce rules while also having fun.
“The most stressful part is when people make poor choices and you have to be the one that holds them accountable. It’s not the most fun part of the job, but it is one of the most important because whether it’s a student athlete who’s made a poor choice, there’s consequences for choices. I try to put myself in a position where students understand that I’m not the punisher, like I don’t want punishment, but we have to have accountability… if you have rules without accountability, there’s no rules. And then that proceeds over to adults, well, because adults can make just as dumb decisions as students can,” Roys said. “I’m going to miss the daily interaction with students. I love the people that I work with dearly, and not coming in here and spending time with them on a daily basis will be something that I’ll miss for sure.”
After a long run serving Arlington High School, Roys will be retiring with a great legacy to leave behind and even greater shoes to fill. Spending 37 years at Arlington has significantly changed the atmosphere of Arlington sports and it’s easy to forget the change that was brought.
“I hope that people remember that I worked hard at what I did. I gave my best effort all the time, and I love them, I love Arlington High School… I’m gonna, I’ll play a lot of golf. I’ll chase my grandkids. I’ve got flower beds at my house that go forever. So, not something I’d like to do, but I’ll end up being there playing at two and a half acres and enjoying retirement,” Roys said.
