Tom Darrin fell in love with the sport of wrestling when he saw his first match at age eleven. A wrestler by the name of Irv Foster was so exciting that Tom wanted to be like him. He got the opportunity to start wrestling in 1967 as a member of Coach Jack White's Reading Memorial High School wrestling team. He then wrestled at Phillips Exeter Academy under legendary coach Ted Seabrooke. Tom went on to Bowdoin College, where he won All New England honors and was captain of the wrestling team in his senior year.

Following graduation, Tom returned to Reading High as a social studies teacher and coach. He was an assistant coach for four years before becoming the head wrestling coach in 1978. Tom would continue to lead the Reading High wrestling program for the next 31 years, until his "retirement" in 2009. During that time, Reading won more than 350 dual meets and won or shared six Middlesex League championships. Darrin won several Middlesex League Coach-of-the-Year awards, two sectional Coach-of-the-Year awards, the 1991 NFHS Massachusetts Coach-of-the-Year Award, and the 2006 Boston Globe Division 2 Coach-of-the-Year Award. USA Wrestling Magazine also named Tom the 2001 Massachusetts Man-of-the-Year.

Coach Darrin served as an officer in the Massachusetts Interscholastic Wrestling Coaches Association (MIWCA) for many years. Tom completed terms as the association's secretary and as a divisional vice president before serving as president of MIWCA. As a past president, Darrin continued to serve the coaches association by working on the Ethics Committee and the Hall of Fame Committee. Tom's main goals with the coach's association were promoting the sport of wrestling and making decisions that boosted Massachusetts wrestling.

In 2010, Darrin's coaching career moved to New Hampshire, where Tom quickly established a successful wrestling team in Windham. In just three years, the Windham team captured the 2012 Division 3 State Championship, and Tom was named Division 3 Coach-of-the-Year twice, the 2011 NHWCA Coach-of-the-Year, and the Eagle-Tribune's 2012 Coach-of-the-Year. Darrin is currently three wins shy of 400 career victories; he hopes to reach that milestone early next season.

While the victories and awards are satisfying, Tom is much more interested in other aspects of wrestling. First and foremost is the development of his wrestlers into fine young people of good character. Coach Darrin's credo of "hard work makes dreams come true" (borrowed from Howard Ferguson) has been Tom's most important message to his wrestlers. Darrin believes there is no better vehicle than wrestling to teach young people a good work ethic. Coach Darrin also wants his wrestlers to understand that they are responsible for their own success and implores them to "make it happen." Discipline and sportsmanship are very important to Tom. Over the years, his teams have consistently won sportsmanship awards from officials, coaches and state athletic associations. Darrin believes that his purpose as a coach is to develop great people, not just great wrestlers, and that there is no reason his wrestlers cannot be both. Tom is most proud of the many fine men who have found success with their families and careers, especially when they tie that success back to their wrestling experiences.

The most important part of Tom Darrin's life, and one of the few things more important than wrestling, is his family. He and his wife Susan have been happily married for 36 years. Their son Will, a high school and collegiate wrestler, and his wife Tracy recently added the newest family member, granddaughter Autumn. Tom and Sue's daughter Beth, a former wrestling team manager, was recently married to Marty Leik. Tom is very grateful for the wonderful family that he has, and for their acceptance of the distractions that wrestling caused in their family life. His family's support allowed Coach Darrin to dedicate his time and energy to countless young men who learned valuable life lessons from Tom.

In recognition of his many years as a mentor and coach, Tom Darrin is being honored by the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame for his Lifetime Service to Wrestling.