Tory Gum
Vice President for External Relations
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Tory Gum is the Vice President for External Relations. And, has seen nothing but success. Alongside President Cain, Tory helped to bring Judson’s largest campaign in the history of the college to a successful close.
Not too bad for a boy who was “born in a barn,” either. Tory spent the first five years of his life in an old, rehabbed barn in Dodge City, Kansas. He spent the next eight years in a Colorado trailer park.
His dad owned a Singer sewing machine business in Pueblo, CO. Tory learned a lot more about life than about sewing machines from watching his dad work. “He worked six days a week—he’d get up at 3 a.m. to go to the shop. This is where my work ethic comes from.”
He’s up at 6 a.m. playing a game of friendly hoops on his home court, then its back to Volkman Hall where he and wife Sandy, Volkman’s resident director, get their five kids ready for school and out to the bus stop. He dons the suit and tie and walks across campus to his office in the administration building. But his work doesn’t end at 5 p.m. Back in the dorm, he and Sandy open their door to Judson students in need of spiritual guidance and a little TLC.
Family is first in Tory Gum’s life. In fact, he had intended family life to be his profession. He graduated from Wayland Baptist University in Texas with a degree in psychology and an interest in family therapy.
“I wanted to work with young people and impact their lives for the better,” he says.
In graduate school at Northern Illinois University, Tory had to complete 1500 hours of marriage and family therapy in some very trying (to say the least) circumstances. And in those 1500 hours he realized that this was not what God was calling him to do with the rest of the hours of his life.
Then he heard about a job at Judson College where he could work with youth in an environment where he was free to talk about Jesus. He applied, and it was, well, a slam dunk.
Fifteen years and five NAIA tournament appearances later, Tory Gum still sees himself as a coach—though the median age of his team has spiked quite a bit. He misses the thrill of the game, but he’s pumped with a new kind of intensity for the college.
“There are always more people to meet, more people to tell our story to, more people to invite into the Judson family,” he says.
Big dreamer. Family man. Sports fan. Tory Gum.
You may reach Tory Gum at 847-628-2082 or tgum@JudsonU.edu