Illinois Wesleyan senior Tommy Gilbert (Glenbrook North HS) headed into the 2011-12 season as a member of four record-setting relay teams - the 200 medley, 400 medley, 400 freestyle and 800 freestyle.
Tommy, whose brother Bobby is a freshman at IWU on the swim team, is active as a sports broadcaster and producer on WESN (FM), the campus radio station. He is majoring in hIstory and secondary education at Illinois Wesleyan and he is the son of Dana and Joanie Gilbert of Northbrook, Ill.
Why you chose Illinois Wesleyan: Good combination of athletics and academics, plus the mascot is named after me
IWU class you’re most qualified to teach: Aside from Beginning Swimming, probably any 100 level U.S. history class
The hardest challenge about being a Division III student-athlete is: Balancing school and sports and still finding enough time to sleep
Worst grade in a class you ever got – what and when? B- in calculus in high school
I’m deathly afraid of ... : Heights and drowning
Worst habit: Wasting time and procrastinating
Most expensive traffic ticket: Never gotten one
Language I’d like to learn: German. No matter what you say, it sounds mean.
The longest I could survive without my cell phone: Probably a long time
Your usual response to “What’s going on?”: Not much, how are you?
Favorite sports figures: Kerry Wood, Ron Santo, and Dustin Pedroia
My greatest moment in sports was: Winning sectionals in the 200 individual medley my senior year of high school
The best player I ever faced was: Potential future Olympian Matt Elliott
Worst dresser on my team: Andrea Peterson, just because she said it was me
Thing that’s been in my fridge the longest: All of Dave Whitman’s food from the last year
Person I’m dying to have dinner with: My grandfather, even though it would be a depressing conversation about the Cubs
Favorite food: You can’t beat a good steak, especially from Fogo de Chao
Vegetable I won’t eat: Anything green
Pepsi or Coke?: Portillo’s chocolate cake shake
Favorite TV shows: "Scrubs", "Dexter" and "The Office"
Favorite musical group: REO Speedwagon and Zac Brown Band
Favorite movies: "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", "Inception", or "Catch Me If You Can"
If a movie were made of my life, I would like the following person to play me: John C. McGinley
The person in history I would most like to meet is: Aaron Burr
My dream job would be: Cubs play-by-play announcer – if anyone has any connections, let me know
Place I’d most like to live: Somewhere by a lake
Two things that are tops on my “bucket list”: Visit all 30 baseball stadiums and find a job after school, hopefully not in that order
My possession that would fetch the most on eBay: Probably my TV, I don’t own much else that’s worth anything
What I miss most about being in the third grade: Playing kickball at recess
