A collegiate All-American football player and co-founder of the "Cortaca Jug" at Cortland, Tom Decker '61 competed in the Canadian Football League (CFL) before distinguishing himself during 23 years as a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). As an agent between 1964 and 1967, Decker investigated bank robberies, organized and white collar crime, and international drug cartels. He made three arrests of fugitives on the FBI's Top 10 Most Wanted list. He was awarded the Key to the City of Shreveport, La. He worked as a liaison with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Decker was a charter member of a select squad that made gambling and narcotic presentations to professional sports organizations, such as the National Football League, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League. Decker helped to develop compulsory drug and gambling awareness programs for student-athletes at The Ohio State University, Ohio University and the University of Cincinnati.
Decker, who grew up in Ithaca, N.Y., attended Ithaca High and the Manlius School. At Cortland, he was a standout offensive back on the football squad. Decker co-captained the unit as a senior. He also earned all-state honors on the Red Dragon baseball team. He was vice president of the Men's Athletic Association and of Beta Phi Epsilon fraternity, student director of Athletics, Newman Club member and he started a charity basketball game between the Ithaca College and Cortland football players.
During the summer of 1959, Decker and Dick Carmean, Ithaca College's football captain, worked out together and were lifeguards in Ithaca. The two agreed that the Cortland-Ithaca football rivalry should have a special trophy. Decker, using as an example the Little Brown Jug which goes to the victor of the Minnesota-Michigan game, conceived of a "Cortaca Jug." He bought an old jug at a Homer, N.Y., farm house and had it painted red, white, blue and gold. The coveted award was first presented in 1959.
Decker earned a Bachelor of Science in Education from Cortland in 1961. He earned a master's degree from Ithaca College in 1964. Drafted in 1962 by the then American Football League (AFL) Buffalo Bills, Decker instead played for two seasons on the CFL Hamilton Tiger Cats, including the 1962 Grey Cup team.
Between 1961 and 1963, Decker taught and coached at Hamburg (N.Y.) High. Decker has volunteered as a coach of youth baseball, football and basketball. He also coached the girls basketball team at Hale High School in Raleigh, N.C. He founded a softball tournament 27 years ago that, in 1992, was renamed the Tom Decker Law Enforcement Softball Tournament.
In 1987, Decker retired from the FBI and became a representative in North Carolina for Champion Sporting Goods and increased sales five-fold in the next five years. Since 1992, he has been the owner of Tom Decker and Associates, an active apparel company catering to college and high school teams, book stores, resorts and special markets.
Decker and Jane, his wife of 36 years, have four sons: T.D., a former Army quarterback and assistant coach; Tom, Jr., a former All-ACC baseball player at Duke; Tim, a former Army baseball player; and Todd, a former Duke football quarterback.
UPDATE: Decker passed away on November 11, 2015, at age 78.
