Engineering Memory of the Month

Touchdown Tommy

From time to time football announcers will talk about how a team “engineered” a scoring drive. Well, Tom Vardell (BS 1991 IE) engineered a Stanford record of 37 touchdowns between 1998 and 1991, before going on to an eight-year career in the National Football League. In the pros he was drafted in the first round by the Cleveland Browns, but also played for the Detroit Lions and San Francisco 49ers before retiring after the 1999 season.

Vardell became known as “Touchdown Tommy” at Stanford and in no game was that nickname more apt than when Vardell crossed the goal line four times in a 36-31 upset of #1-ranked Notre Dame on Oct. 6, 1990. Video highlights of the game, including a couple of Vardell’s touchdowns, are on YouTube .

Nowadays Vardell is managing director of Northgate Capital, an investment firm he helped found.

We are interested in your nostalgic photos and the stories they tell. If you’d like to share them with the Stanford Engineering community, e-mail them to David Orenstein , Manager, Communications and P.R.