At age 14, Tommy was signed to sponsorship deals with Body Glove Wetsuits and Gotcha Sportswear as an amateur. 

 

​He would go on to work with Body Glove for 10 years. As a top-ranked amateur in the North East, he was a regular at ESA and NSSA contests up and down the east coast. Tommy has won multiple events in locations such as Lido Beach, Long Beach, Montauk, East Hampton, Ocean City, Atlantic City, Virginia Beach, and Cocoa Beach. He was selected to represent the North East at the East Coast Surfing Championships for four years in a row.

Based on his amateur ranking, Tommy was selected to represent the East Coast at the 1985 United States Surfing Championships at Malibu and the 1986 US Championships in Melbourne, Florida. That same year as a freshman at Jacksonville University, Tommy represented the school at the NSSA Collegiate Championships at Sebastian Inlet, Florida. He also qualified and competed at the NSSA National Championships at Oceanside, CA and Huntington Beach, CA. 

With the support of sponsors Body Glove, Gotcha and Dominos Pizza. Tommy turned pro in 1989. He primarily competed on the ASP East Tour (Association of Surfing Professionals) and the PSAA Tour (Professional Surfing Association of America). He would spend summers in southern California and winters in Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Tommy had the opportunity to compete against some of the best pro's in the country and got to travel the world including his favorite destinations, which include, Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, and Mexico. After an exciting three year run in professional surfing, Tommy's highest national ranking was #64.

Surfing presented Tommy with the perfect transition into the business world. He had been working for his sponsors since early on in areas of sales, marketing & promotions and was primed to take over a major sales territory in the industry. Body Glove promoted Tommy along with other top surfers making the transition to the business side of surfing, including Ted Robinson, Kaipo Guerrero, and Marcel Soros. They were known as the Body Glove SWAT Team and Tommy was awarded the Mid Atlantic Region.