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When it came to the shot put, Tom Feig threw it farther and farther each time.
While competing for the Centralia High School track team, the 2019 Centralia Sports Hall of Fame inductee broke the school record in the event on three separate occasions as a junior before setting a mark his senior year in 1969 that would last for two decades.
“It was an enjoyable time,” said Feig who was a three-time qualifier for the Illinois High School Association state finals in the shot, and also played football for the Orphans, playing for such coaches as Jimmie Evers, Rod White, Don Smith and Bill Blair. “Centralia had a proud tradition and we had good coaches who were really great people to work under, and learn from. I learned a lot from them.”
Feig began throwing the shot for the Centralia Tigers track team and in eighth grade, won the Southern Illinois Junior High School Association regional at Salem in 1965 with a toss of 40 feet, 8 inches.
“I started with [coach] Bob Schmidt teaching me with an eight-pound shot behind Central School,” said Feig, who a year later as a CHS freshman, placed fourth in the South Seven Conference’s underclassman meet at West Frankfort.
The following season as a sophomore at the frosh-soph meet, he threw the shot 48-8 to break the previous mark set by Jim Paulk of West Frankfort by six inches and in the varsity conference meet, placed fifth as the Orphans claimed team honors in Jimmie Evers’ final season as coach.
That led to the district at Carbondale and Feig’s toss of 49-3 took second place overall and was the best ever by a CHS sophomore while also qualifying him for the state meet.
That fall, he played varsity football and as part of a platoon system at quarterback, threw for 214 yards in a run-oriented offense as the Orphans finished with a 6-3-1 record.
Starting his junior year, Feig threw the shot 51-1 1/4 in the first meet of the season at Flora, which was just four inches short of the school record.
He broke it at the very next meet, going 51-8 1/4 to break the old mark of 51-5 1/4 set by Jim Harris in 1963.
Following a fourth at the Mineral Area Invitational, Feig bested his new record with a throw of 52-11 in a meet at Evers Field with Mount Vernon.
At the Orphan Relays, packed with powerful performers, he took third behind Alton’s Frank Holmes who finished second at state that year, and future Olympian Tom Stock of Belleville West who would be the state shot put champion two years later.
After taking first in the South Seven Conference with a throw of 52-8 3/4, Feig broke the school mark for a third time that year with a throw of 53 feet, 5 1/4 inches in the district at Carbondale, earning him first place honors and a second straight trip to state.
Named a co-captain along with Scott Engel for the 1968 Orphans football team, Feig was sidelined all season due to an offseason automobile accident but the following spring, was able to return to the throwing ring his senior year.
It started with a bang as Feig set another Centralia High mark with a toss of 56-2 in an early season meet with state power Alton.
He also claimed first at the Mineral Area meet with a throw of 54-11 1/2 and won the shot in a dual with Mount Vernon by throwing 55-7 1/2. Feig was also a double winner in the shot, while also throwing the discus for 142 feet, 3 inches at the West Frankfort Relays.
Then came the Orphan Relays where Feig threw the shot put a CHS record 57-8 to beat out Stock for first place honors and help the Orphans edge eventual state champion Alton for the title which was decided by Steve Brink’s anchor leg on the mile relay, the final event of the night.
“It came down to the last race and I’ll always remember watching that,” said Feig. “We had a great team that year.”
Feig went on to win the shot at the South Seven with a throw of 54-3 1/2 and then on a damp, cold, windy day at Carbondale, claimed the district title and a third straight trip to state while also qualifying for state in the discus.
Following his graduation from CHS, he received a scholarship to Eastern Illinois University where he threw both the shot and discus, and also ended up competing in the hammer and javelin throws, including a fourth-place finish at the Illinois Intercollegiate Outdoor meet which involved all the state university schools.
After college, Feig came back to Centralia and was a bank executive, and also served on the Centralia High School Board of Education.
“My wife is from here, this is where my kids grew up, and I have so many friends here,” he said. “Centralia will always be home to me.”
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