Tom "Tug" Warren (born November 11, 1943) is an American

triathlete A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the d ...

, an Ironman champion, an inductee of both the Ironman Hall of Fame and the USA Triathlon Hall of Fame, and a former sports bar owner from

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

, California.

Early life and education

Warren was the youngest of two children, with brother Bill, born to his mother Josephine and his father George, a former senior vice president of a

savings and loan Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word , which is from an I ...

bank. Warren grew up in Pacific Beach, a coastal community of San Diego, and graduated from

Mission Bay High School Mission Bay High School (MBHS), is a public high school located in the San Diego, California community of Pacific Beach. It is a magnet school with emphasis on Academic Studies. In Fall 2006, Mission Bay introduced International Baccalaureate c ...

. He went on to graduate from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

with a degree in accounting, and then served three years in the U.S. Army. At USC, he played water polo and swam on three

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

championship swimming teams. .

Business and sports careers

After serving in the Army, Warren opened Tug's Tavern, a sports bar and restaurant in San Diego's Pacific Beach that he owned for 17 years. The bar, beginning in 1975, sponsored the annual Tug's Swim-Run-Swim, an early multisport event that included a half-mile swim around Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach, a 5-mile run on the sand from the pier to the Mission Beach jetty and back, and another half-mile swim around the pier. At the second Ironman in 1979 on

Oahu Oahu () (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering place#Island of Oʻahu as The Gathering Place, Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over t ...

, Warren arrived as an unknown quantity from San Diego. "No one thought to challenge the saloonkeeper," wrote ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

s Barry McDermott. Warren ended up winning in 11 hours, 15 minutes, 56 seconds, beating out

Gordon Haller Gordon Haller (born 1950) is the winner of the first Ironman Triathlon. Biography Haller grew up in Forest Grove, Oregon and earned a degree in physics at Pacific University. On Oahu, Hawaii in 1978, Haller competed in Navy Commander J ...

, the first year's champion. McDermott's ''Sports Illustrated'' article featuring the three leaders in the competition, including Warren, "was Ironman’s spark," wrote ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', prompting “

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

’s Wide World of Sports” to cover the third Ironman the following year, with 108 athletes competing. Warren, on July 25, 1979, appeared on "

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. The show has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2009 and 201 ...

" to talk with

Johnny Carson John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He is best known as the host of ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' (1962–1992). Carson received six Pr ...

about the win. Warren has been at the start line of the Ironman Triathlon World Championship in Hawaii 20 times, finishing 16 of them. The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' called Warren an "ultra-sport pioneer." Since 2009, Warren has been co-owner of Schroeder's at Tango del Rey, a tango, salsa and jazz bar.

Personal life

Warren's late wife, Barbara Warren, who was also a champion endurance athlete, died in 2008 at age 65 in Santa Barbara, Calif., three days after crashing during the bicycling portion of the Santa Barbara Triathlon. The couple had been married since 1995. Warren lives in a cabin he built in

Julian, California Julian is a census-designated place (CDP) in San Diego County, California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,502, down from 1,621 at the time of the 2000 census. Julian is an official California Historical Landmark (No. 412). The Jul ...

, overlooking

Lake Cuyamaca Lake Cuyamaca, also called Cuyamaca Reservoir, is a reservoir and a recreation area in the eastern Cuyamaca Mountains, located in eastern San Diego County, California. Geography California State Route 79 wraps around three shores, and provides ...

San Diego County San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the fi ...

Awards

* Inducted in 2000 into the Ironman Hall of Fame. * Inducted in 2014 into the USA Triathlon Hall of Fame.

References

External links

Official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Warren, Tom 1943 births Living people American male triathletes Track and field athletes from San Diego University of Southern California alumni Ironman world champions United States Army soldiers Drinking establishment owners