Thomas C. Cundy*

Born in 1933 during the height of the Great Depression in Pittsburgh, Tom Cundy grew up in Bellevue, Kentucky, an Irish-German settlement along the Ohio River. He did not have a close relationship with his father, an unskilled laborer and an alcoholic who was away from home for long periods of time. When Cundy was 16, his parents divorced.

Cundy's mother was a bright student who never finished high school. She earned a small income for herself and her son by working in a Cincinnati department store. They lived in a small house, where Cundy slept on a cot that he had to make up each night. He did not have a real bed until he went away to college. In addition to his mother, Cundy had the love and support of his maternal grandparents. His grandfather, a factory worker, loved to read and spent many hours talking with his young grandson.

Cundy's introduction to selling began in the second grade, when he sold copies of Liberty magazine door to door. His determination to succeed was evident even at that young age. To make more money, he usually held two jobs, doing things such as delivering newspapers, cutting grass, running errands, and shoveling coal.

At the end of each day, he and his mother pooled their earnings. During the Great Depression, a federal work program financed the local construction of a sports stadium; tennis and basketball courts; and fields for football, track, and baseball. It was there that Cundy's love of sports was fostered. He began playing tennis at 10, and Roger Klein, a friend of his mother's, tutored him in the game and became his mentor in life.

In ninth grade, Cundy became the caretaker of the Bellevue tennis courts, which paid him $2 a week. He became an excellent tennis player and won the first tournament he entered. In 1951, he won the Kentucky state high school tennis championship. This win brought him scholarship offers from many Big Ten schools as well as the U.S. Naval Academy, but Cundy chose Florida State University (FSU).

To supplement his scholarship, he worked as a busboy in the FSU cafeteria and washed dishes in a fraternity house. During summers, he worked for a Cincinnati bottling company and as an assistant to Klein. He was a top player on the FSU varsity tennis team his entire four years. In 1953, Cundy led the Seminoles to their best season ever with a 15-2 record.

Following his 1955 graduation with a degree in industrial psychology, Cundy was commissioned as a lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps. He served as tennis coach at the base in Quantico, Virginia, and led his team through a 42-match undefeated season. Cundy left the Marines as a first lieutenant and obtained the rank of captain while in the reserves.

At FSU, Cundy enjoyed sales and marketing courses. After leaving the Marines, he decided to try his hand at selling insurance. He landed a sales job with Prudential and within 10 months, he sold more than $1 million of insurance. Fortified with a great deal of self-confidence, he left Prudential to start his own agency backed by Provident Life & Accident. It was not easy to establish himself, but his persistence eventually paid off and CUNDY, Inc. eventually became one of the nation's leading privately held employee benefit consulting firms.

Cundy wanted give himself the opportunity to succeed. He started down that road with a good education. "Getting a college degree is the foundation," he said. "It starts you on your way. I couldn't put a price on what my education and the Marine Corps did for me."

Cundy viewed his Horatio Alger Award as one of his life's greatest accomplishments. He said, "I am proud to belong to an organization that does so much to help deserving youth get their start in life."