Tom Sims (December 6, 1950 – September 12, 2012) was an American athlete, inventor, and entrepreneur. Sims was World Snowboarding Champion (1983), World Champion Skateboarder (1975), and founder of SIMS Snowboards and SIMS Skateboards. He lived in
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning " Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West ...
from 1971 until his death.
In 1963, in his 7th-grade wood-shop class at Haddonfield Central School in his hometown of
Haddonfield, New Jersey
:''Not the fictional Illinois town from the Halloween film series.''
Haddonfield is a borough located in Camden County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough had a total population of 11,593, , he and John Murray made what they called a "skiboard," combining their two favorite sports, skiing and skateboarding. He attended
Haddonfield Memorial High School
Haddonfield Memorial High School is a four-year comprehensive community public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grade from Haddonfield, in Camden County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary scho ...
, which honored him in 1998 for a lifetime achievement award.
Sims was the primary snowboarding stunt double for "007" (
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore (14 October 192723 May 2017) was an English actor. He was the third actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond in the Eon Productions film series, playing the character in seven feature films between 1 ...
) in the 1985 James Bond film ''
A View to a Kill'', which helped popularize both the snowboard and its usage. Since 2006, the SIMS Snowboards brand has been managed by Collective Licensing International, LLC, a unit of
Collective Brands Inc., though Tom Sims was still very active in the company. Tom continued to be personally involved in the design and testing of the new snowboard and skateboard equipment being developed under the SIMS brand until his death.
Sims died on September 12, 2012 at a hospital near his home in Santa Barbara, California at the age of 61, from complications due to cardiac arrest.
References
External links
Sims Snowboards
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sims, Tom
1950 births
2012 deaths
20th-century American inventors
American male snowboarders
Haddonfield Memorial High School alumni
People from Haddonfield, New Jersey
People from Santa Barbara, California
Snowboarding
Sportspeople from Camden County, New Jersey