Hal Thomas Galloway’s 60-Year Giving Legacy

Hal Thomas “Tom” Galloway (’60) has made annual gifts to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, for more than 60 years. He has never missed a year in contributing to both athletics and engineering since graduating.

Galloway, who grew up in Erwin, Tennessee, and graduated from Unicoi County High School, remembers when Neyland Stadium was still a horseshoe shape. He took his first-ever trip on an airplane to interview for a job in South Carolina during his senior year at UT. The airplane was a Douglas DC-3, and the university—approved by the dean of Students at the time (Ralph Dunford)—loaned him money to buy the ticket.

“I went through UT on bare bones,” Galloway said. “After graduation, I went to work for Phillips Chemical in Texas and then later the Union Camp Corporation in Virginia, which is now part of International Paper.”

After nearly a decade in the workforce, Galloway joined the General Foam Plastics Corporation in Norfolk, Virginia, and stayed with the company for over 30 years. As director of corporate purchasing, he helped grow operations from one plant to six. The company was the largest manufacturer of artificial Christmas trees in the world. They also produced seasonal items such as plastic wading pools for children, foam cooler chests, and Halloween pumpkins.

“My department was blessed to have some incredibly good, loyal employees, and I still have contact with many of them,” Galloway said. “We went through hard times together, including a fire that destroyed a large warehouse. I was up to my knees in water while the fire was being put out.”

Galloway now lives in Cary, North Carolina, with his wife Betty, and near his son Tad (’01) and daughter Beth, who studied at the College of William & Mary. Tad, who also majored in engineering at UT, is following in his father’s footsteps with over 15 years of giving now, primarily to athletics.

Father and son are both Vol fans through-and-through and share the story that they each were in their freshman years at UT when the Vols’ two Heisman Trophy runners-up were in their senior years as football players: Johnny Majors (’57) and Peyton Manning (’97). Not long ago, Galloway actually bumped into Johnny Majors at a UT basketball game and took a photo with him.

“Around the time of Dad’s 80th birthday, I was in Knoxville and showed him around campus over a video call,” Tad said. “He thought he’d never get back to Knoxville again, and so I decided to change that. We did a road trip to watch UT win a basketball game against Georgia, and I literally bumped into Coach Majors on the way to the car. We got a picture of him and Dad together, and Andrea Piercy of UT Athletics had it signed and framed for us. It’s hanging on the wall now. It was a really special day.”

Throughout his life, Galloway has always made sure his children had better opportunities than he had growing up. Where Galloway’s father forbade him from playing football, he allowed Tad to play any sports he wanted during high school and never missed one of his games. He made sure his children learned to work hard but also supported them through college so they could make the most of their studies.

Tad recalled learning from his father to “do it right the first time, so you don’t have to do it again.” They worked on engineering projects together, such as a tabletop steam engine and woodworking. The habits formed along the way are ones Tad is now passing on to his own children. One family ritual Tad said always occurred was yard work on the weekends.

“Whether I liked it or not, we were out in the yard for hours and hours picking up leaves on fall weekends,” Tad said. “The only thing that could save me, thankfully, was a UT ballgame on television.”