UT men’s soccer coach Tom Fitzgerald died from injuries sustained in a
motorcycle accident on Saturday.
A visitation will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 7, from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Blount
& Curry Funeral Home located at 605 S. MacDill Avenue, followed by a brief
service. A UT memorial service will then take place at Art and Polly Pepin
Stadium at 4:30 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be sent to The University of
Tampa men’s soccer endowed scholarship in his name.
Fitzgerald, an inductee into the UT Athletic Hall of Fame in October and a
member of the Sunshine State Conference Hall of Fame, was in his second tour of
duty as the Spartans' head coach. He was UT’s head coach from 1987-95 and
captured the NCAA Division II National Championship in 1994.
His career moved on to the pro ranks where he served as head coach of the
Columbus Crew from 1995-2001. From there, Fitzgerald took the head coach
position at UCLA where he won the Division I National Championship in his first
season with the team. After two years with the Bruins, he returned to Tampa and
coached the Spartans this past fall.
Fitzgerald was 53 years old. He is survived by his wife, Debi; two sons,
Shane and Jesse; a grandson, Caelan; his mother, Betty; two brothers, James and
Sam; two sisters, Bonnie Horrocks and Debbie Risso; three nephews, Ryan and
Kenny Horrocks and J. J. Lawrence; and two nieces, Ashley Horrocks and Dawn
Lawrence.
For more information, contact the Office of Public Information at
publicinfo@ut.edu.