Tom Elliott
2026 Glenn Carlson Honoree
St. Cloud, MN / Willmar, MN
St. Cloud, MN / Willmar, MN
Tom has been a professional sports journalist for nearly 50 years. This includes 34 years at the St. Cloud Times, three-and-a-half years as the sports editor of The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, CA and sports editor of the West Central Tribune in Willmar since 2019.
While he has covered nearly everything in sports at all levels from tee-ball to professional ball, baseball has always been his passion. His interest in amateur baseball grew from doing Sunday roundups of the St. Cloud area leagues with the help of St. Cloud legend Dick Putz. Putz would get the highlights from every game in the St. Cloud area by having the assigned umpires fill out slips with the line scores of the hitting and pitching highlights.
Originally from New York City and a Mets fan, he moved to Minnesota in 1974 as a ninth grader and went to South St. Paul High School, where town ball was low-key and low-profile. Amateur baseball was all new to Tom. Feature stories spawned from those moments with the effervescent Putz. The stories behind the scores became a cornerstone of Tom's career.
Tom loves all sports and enjoys telling the stories of the people involved. It has led to numerous awards and accolades. His induction into the Minnesota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame as a Glenn Carlson Award recipient is his sixth hall of fame induction. Others include:
* The Director's Award from the Minnesota American Legion Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993 for his work with Ray DeZurik of Waite Park.
* The Angelo Guiliani Award in 1994 by the Minnesota High School Baseball Coaches Association for his work covering high school baseball.
* The Minnesota State High School Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame in 2014 for his work in basketball.
* The Minnesota State High School League Outstanding Media Service Award at the state boys basketball finals in 2019 for his work covering all high school activities.
* The St. Cloud Tech Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019 for his outstanding contributions to Tiger athletics over the years.
In between those inductions, Tom won more than 75 state and national writing and editing awards from the Associated Press, the Minnesota Newspaper Association and the Gannett Corporation, which once owned about 260 daily newspapers. With the Willmar paper, the West Central Tribune's sports section has been awarded first place once and second place three times in its division for sports general excellence.
Tom has two sons (John and Michael), a daughter-in-law (Megan) and a grandson (Lucas), a huge extended family along with friends and acquaintances who have supported him along the way.
While he has covered nearly everything in sports at all levels from tee-ball to professional ball, baseball has always been his passion. His interest in amateur baseball grew from doing Sunday roundups of the St. Cloud area leagues with the help of St. Cloud legend Dick Putz. Putz would get the highlights from every game in the St. Cloud area by having the assigned umpires fill out slips with the line scores of the hitting and pitching highlights.
Originally from New York City and a Mets fan, he moved to Minnesota in 1974 as a ninth grader and went to South St. Paul High School, where town ball was low-key and low-profile. Amateur baseball was all new to Tom. Feature stories spawned from those moments with the effervescent Putz. The stories behind the scores became a cornerstone of Tom's career.
Tom loves all sports and enjoys telling the stories of the people involved. It has led to numerous awards and accolades. His induction into the Minnesota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame as a Glenn Carlson Award recipient is his sixth hall of fame induction. Others include:
* The Director's Award from the Minnesota American Legion Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993 for his work with Ray DeZurik of Waite Park.
* The Angelo Guiliani Award in 1994 by the Minnesota High School Baseball Coaches Association for his work covering high school baseball.
* The Minnesota State High School Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame in 2014 for his work in basketball.
* The Minnesota State High School League Outstanding Media Service Award at the state boys basketball finals in 2019 for his work covering all high school activities.
* The St. Cloud Tech Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019 for his outstanding contributions to Tiger athletics over the years.
In between those inductions, Tom won more than 75 state and national writing and editing awards from the Associated Press, the Minnesota Newspaper Association and the Gannett Corporation, which once owned about 260 daily newspapers. With the Willmar paper, the West Central Tribune's sports section has been awarded first place once and second place three times in its division for sports general excellence.
Tom has two sons (John and Michael), a daughter-in-law (Megan) and a grandson (Lucas), a huge extended family along with friends and acquaintances who have supported him along the way.