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The 2007 season will mark the 19th that Tom Heckert, Sr. has been a member of the Dolphins organization. He initially joined the club in 1989 as Director of College Scouting, and spent three years in that position. He was named Director of Player Personnel in 1992 and Vice President - Player Personnel in 1995. He spent the 1996-99 seasons as the club’s Director of Pro Personnel and 2000-03 as Assistant Director of Pro Personnel.
Heckert has a varied background in football, including spending seven years as a college scout with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Cleveland Browns. He also has both administrative and coaching experience on the collegiate level.
Heckert joined the Dolphins after serving two years (1987-88) as a national scout for the Buccaneers. Prior to joining the Bucs in 1987, he spent the previous five seasons (1982-86) as the Midwest area scout for the Browns.
A 1961 graduate of Youngstown (Ohio) State, he began his coaching career as an assistant at Fitch High School in Youngstown in 1961 before a two-year hitch as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He returned to Fitch where he stayed through 1965 prior to enrolling as a graduate assistant at Kent State, where he earned a master’s degree in education. He served as head coach at Maumee (Ohio) High School in 1967 and then moved up to the college ranks as an assistant at Adrian (Michigan) College from 1968-72. He was named head coach at Adrian in 1973 and athletic director in 1977, where he remained until joining the Browns in 1982. His overall record as a head coach at Adrian was 43-36-2. His last three teams there were a combined 23-3-1, including a 9-0 season in 1980.
Heckert and his wife, Rose (married 12/29/62), have two children, Kim and Tom, Jr., and five grandchildren. Tom, Jr. is the General Manager with the Philadelphia Eagles, after having served in the Dolphins’ personnel department for ten years (1991-00). | 