Tom Dinger
Birthdate: August 15, 1949
Birthplace: Mansfield, Ohio
High School: Mansfield HS (1967)
College: The College of Wooster (1971)
Year Inducted: 2015
Tom Dinger played basketball at the College of Wooster when there was no such thing as a 3-point basket. Yet he scored so many points that his career total of 2,370 still stands as Wooster’s all-time high more than 40 years later.
Dinger, a 5-foot-11 point guard, had three brilliant seasons for the Scots. As a senior he led them to their first Ohio Athletic Conference championship in 19 years and was player of the year in the OAC.
A slick ball handler and an excellent passer, Dinger averaged 24.5, 30.7 and 24.4 points in his three varsity seasons. He scored 30 or more points 23 times and had a string of 37 consecutive games in which he scored at least 20 points.
For all the scoring he did, however, his greatest joy came in his senior year (1970-71) when he was part of a championship team following two so-so seasons. Wooster won 19 consecutive games and clinched the OAC title in the last game of the regular season with an 87-81 victory over Capital. The Scots had been trounced, 103-66, by Capital the previous year. After graduation, Tom Dinger coached the Wooster High School team for seven years.
