Tommy Keeling’s Tarleton Hall of Fame journey

BY GAVIN PATRICK / Multimedia Journalist

Tommy Keeling knows a thing or two about baseball.

Any Tarleton State University Texan would be proud to know the story of Tommy Keeling because getting into a hall of fame, of any sorts, is no easy task.

But it’s possible, and it starts with being inspired by something you love, setting goals and fighting like hell to achieve them.

“A lot of people these days don’t put the work in; I worked nonstop,” Keeling said. “Before I did anything else, I would make sure I put in the work.”

Well, it paid off.

Keeling was inducted into the Tarleton State University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014. Before that, he spent his four years at Tarleton (1994-1997) as a standout outfielder and a feared hitter.

No Tarleton State Texan has more at bats, hits or doubles in their collegiate career than Keeling. He also owns single-season school records for total bases tailed (157) and doubles (25), set in 1996 and 1997.

The crack of his bat was something to behold. It was how the legend was born.

The team was driving out to face East Texas Baptist in 1994, Keeling’s freshman year, and he was sitting a few rows back from his assistant coach, Trey Felan.
He asks: “Hey, how big’s the field?”

“Well, just get the ball over the pine trees,” Felan told him.

It didn’t take long for coach to be proven right.

“My first at bat, I come up there and sure enough: I hit one way over the pine trees all the way down into a soccer field,” Keeling said. “And I just look at coach.
“And Coach [Jack] Allen (the head coach) comes in to me and he goes, ‘y’know, before today, your dad had hit the farthest ball I’ve ever seen.’
“‘Now you hold that record.’”

It was the first of many records set by Keeling at Tarleton State, and up until our interview 30 years later, he never looked back.

But his time as a Texan almost never got started.

Keeling, an Austin native, was originally slated to join the University of Texas on a baseball scholarship. The deal essentially guaranteed him a spot on the team and a future as a Longhorn, a school some of his friends had played for before.

But as soon as the offer was made, it was taken away. Instead, the school wanted him to come as an invited walk-on. And, well…
“I didn’t want to do that,” Keeling said.

He didn’t know what to do next either.

Then, out of the blue, Keeling’s father -- a decent ball player in his own right -- saw a newspaper story about baseball tryouts at Tarleton State. He read that the team’s head coach was Jack Allen, who had coached him at Ranger Junior College in 1971 and ‘72.

“He was like, ‘let’s just go up there, we’ll go to the tryout,’” Keeling said. “And when I went to the tryout, he offered me right on the spot.”

Just like that, Keeling was a Texan.

Once his career at Tarleton was off and running, after he hit that ball over the pine trees, he started getting offers from other schools. Because of course he did.

But just like Taylor is with Travis, Keeling was already taken.

“The other people had their chance before, and they let it slip through their fingers,” he said. “I wasn’t gonna give them the opportunity again.”

Keeling had bled enough purple to that point that no one was going to lure him to another school. He had found his place, a place that gave him the opportunity to not just play the sport he loved, but flourish in it.

“Being a big institution like that, they don’t have some of the accolades that I have,” Keeling said, “which just makes me happy that I stuck to where I was and was able to succeed like I did and have the accolades that I got. I couldn’t be happier with that.”

Four years came and went at Tarleton. By the time he was done, Keeling was subject to two team MVPs, three first-team All-Lone-Star Conference selections, three Big Stick awards (just to name a few), and capped it all off with a phenomenal .417 batting average his senior year.

His time as a Texan was done, but his competitive drive wasn’t satisfied. He wanted to make it to the major leagues, which, in his words, was a far-fetched goal.

The MLB draft came and went, and Keeling’s name was never called.

But that didn’t stop him from continuing his baseball career. In 1997, he was invited to tryout for the Tennessee Tomahawks, an independent pro baseball team in the (now dissolved) Heartland League.

His tryout went similar to his one at Tarleton. After one workout and a batting practice session, he signed a contract on the spot.

“I was given the opportunity, just health was an issue,” he said.

Unfortunately, Keeling broke his ankle in the championship series his first season and was never the same. He was able to work his way back the following year but could only play a few days in a row before needing to rest.

“After that season, I decided it wasn’t getting any better,” Keeling said. “So it was time to move on.”

It was a hard pill to swallow for Keeling. An injury that was completely out of his control had dashed his hopes and dreams of one day playing major league baseball.

So, what would he do next?

“You gotta find something else to fill that competitive edge,” he said.

Well, first, Keeling got a job at Dell in 1999. But in his free time, he found another sport.

“I play golf all the time,” Keeling said. “It’s something that you still gotta have the drive to wanna compete in."

“You always have to have something.”

For some, that competitive edge never goes away. Not even a career-ending injury can stop it.

For Keeling, it didn’t matter if he was down-and-out, got a scholarship pulled or couldn’t play major league baseball: he always chose to keep going.
He never gave up. And playing baseball taught him that lesson.

“It gives yourself a drive, your competitive nature,” Keeling said. “You don’t wanna lose. You play the game for a reason; you’re not playing just to play. [Because] in life, you want a certain outcome.

“You also learn discipline. You can’t be off-the-cuff and do whatever you want; you gotta be disciplined. And, if you have the right coach, it teaches you good life lessons.”

Thankfully, in Jack Allen and Trey Felan, he did have the right coaches. And coupled with a strong work ethic, there was never an obstacle too big for Keeling to overcome.

Today, Keeling is an outside account executive for SHI International Corp. where he resells computer equipment for organizations in the DFW area.

Keeling coached his youngest daughter’s softball team when she was six up until she was 12. And even with a bad ankle, he still dabbles in the sport he loves by showing the ropes to young girls.

“I haven’t swung a baseball bat [recently], but I’ve been swinging softball bats and hitting balls for them and throwing with them,” Keeling said. “I do that all the time. As a matter of fact, I still go out and help girls if they ask me to hit with them or throw with them.