Tom Sims

{{short description|American snowboarder}}

{{for|the American football defensive tackle|Tom Sims (American football)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Tom Sims

| birth_name = Thomas Paul Simeon

| birth_date = {{birth date|1950|12|6|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.{{Cite web |title=Thomas "Tom" Paul Sims |url=https://www.independent.com/obits/2012/10/02/thomas-tom-sims/ |access-date=2024-03-26 |website=The Santa Barbara Independent |language=en-US}}

| death_date = {{death date and age|2012|9|12|1950|12|6}}

| death_place = Santa Barbara, California, U.S.

| occupation = Inventor, Professional Athlete, Entrepreneur

| known_for = Inventing the snowboard

| spouse = Hilary Sims

| children = 5

}}

Tom Sims (December 6, 1950 – September 12, 2012) was an American athlete, inventor, and entrepreneur. Sims was World Snowboarding Champion (1983), World Champion Skateboarder (1975), and founder of SIMS Snowboards and SIMS Skateboards. He lived in Santa Barbara, California, from 1971 until his death.

In 1963, in his 7th-grade wood-shop class at Haddonfield Central School in his hometown of Haddonfield, New Jersey, he and John Murray made what they called a "skiboard," combining their two favorite sports, skiing and skateboarding.{{cite web|last=Atkin|first=Ross|title=A Man Who Helped Skiers Get on the Snowboard|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/1998/0211/021198.feat.sports.1.html|publisher=The Christian Science Monitor|accessdate=January 20, 2014|date=February 11, 1998}} He attended Haddonfield Memorial High School, which honored him in 1998 for a lifetime achievement award.[https://www.independent.com/obits/2012/10/02/thomas-tom-sims/ "Obituary: Thomas 'Tom' Paul Sims"] Santa Barbara Independent, October 2, 2012. Accessed October 28, 2020. "Tom’s talents as a skier, skateboarder, 'skiboarder', surfer, and an artist, emerged during high school, and his artwork remained hanging on the walls of Haddonfield Memorial High School for a number of years. In 1998, he received the Haddonfield Alumni Society Lifetime Achievement Award."

Sims was the primary snowboarding stunt double for "007" (Roger Moore) in the 1985 James Bond film A View to a Kill, which helped popularize both the snowboard and its usage.{{cite web|last=Bane|first=Colin|title=Snowboard Pioneer Tom Sims Dies|url=https://www.espn.com/action/snowboarding/story/_/id/8374232/toms-sims-skate-snowboard-pioneer-dies-cardiac-arrest|access-date=January 20, 2014|date=September 13, 2012}} Since 2006, the SIMS Snowboards brand has been managed by Collective Licensing International, LLC,{{Cite web|url=https://sgbonline.com/collective-international-picks-up-sims-license/|title=Collective International Picks Up Sims License…|last=Hartford|first=Theresa|date=Jul 24, 2006|website=SGB Media|access-date=March 16, 2017}} a unit of Collective Brands Inc., though Tom Sims was still very active in the company. Tom continued to be personally involved in the design and testing of the new snowboard and skateboard equipment being developed under the SIMS brand until his death.{{cite web|last=Hardaker|first=Mike|title=Tom Sims Death Forever A Legend RIP 1950-2012|url=http://mtnweekly.com/tom-sims-remembered-rip-1950-2012-34651|publisher=Mountain Weekly News|accessdate=January 20, 2014|date=September 13, 2012}}

Sims died on September 12, 2012, at a hospital near his home in Santa Barbara, California at the age of 61, from complications due to cardiac arrest.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/business/tom-sims-snowboard-pioneer-and-world-champion-dies-at-61.html|title=Tom Sims, Pioneer in Sport of Snowboarding, Dies at 61|last=Slotnik|first=Daniel E.|date=September 18, 2012|website=New York Times|access-date=March 16, 2017}}