User:Bfrasure/Tom Tayback

Tom Tayback (born Thomas Najeeb Tabback, February 4, 1951) is a California born actor, entertainer, broadcaster, national voice over artist, former baseball draft choice, athletic strength trainer, world class powerlifter, police officer, U.S. Army Paratrooper veteran and business owner. After being drafted by the Kansas City Royals in 1970, his baseball dreams were derailed when he was also drafted into the Army during the Viet Nam War. After jump school, he ended up at Fort Bragg, NC as a member of the 82nd Airborne Division. This is where he was assigned to the Provost Marshal as a Military Police Investigator and took up weightlifting to ease the frustration of no more competitive athletic release. Upon leaving the Army, from 1973 -1981, he settled in with the Phoenix Police Department. 1981-1986 Tom ran a training facility in Scottdale, AZ for university and professional athletes. In 1986 he founded the Sportstar Nutritional Supplement line and sold it to a St Louis pharmaceutical firm in 1991. During this time he also pursued a performing desire by producing and starring in The Tom Tayback Show”. Upon selling “Sportstar” Tom decided to move back to California and follow in his uncle Vic Tayback’s (Mel in the “Alice” TV show on CBS) footsteps as an actor. After 5 years of roles in Hollywood movies, TV shows and Commercials he grew tired of the people in Hollywood and moved back to Arizona where he bought the KAZM radio station from his parents and became an award winning on-air personality. In the meantime, he put together the “Graffiti Gold Show” – Vegas style entertainment with an oldies band with Tom handling lead vocals and telling nostalgic stories. This staged show booked solidly from 2004-2019, until Covid 19 hit.

Early Life
Tom was born and grew up in the San Fernando Valley area of Southern California with 2 sisters. Ending up at William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills, his father, Joe Tabback, was an executive at Litton Industries, and his mother, Theresa, worked at the local bank. When he wasn’t in class, Tom spent most of his time engaged in any athletic activity he could find. This included neighborhood pickup games and American Legion Baseball.

Filmography

 * The Hidden II (1993, as Colton)
 * Undercover Heat (1995, as Sergeant Gold)
 * Jimi (1996, as Mark Peers)
 * Grizzly Adams and the Legend of Dark Mountain (1999, as Grizzly Adams)



Baseball
While attending Taft High School, Tom play football and baseball, be his true love was baseball. On the varsity baseball team he played alongside Larry Yount and his brother Robin (2 time American League MVP – Hall of Fame). During his senior year he hit a home run off of Dwight Evans (20-year right fielder – Boston Red Sox), but tom was actually drafty by the Kansas City Royals as a pitcher. In the Winter of 1970, he was playing in the MLB instructional league (then in Long Beach, CA) but had to leave when the military draft came calling.

Military Career
US Army Paratrooper, 18th Airborne Corps, 82nd Airborne Division. Worked undercover operations with Department of Defense Credentials, attached directly to the Provost Marshall at Fort Bragg, NC. This included liaison operations with the CIA, FBI, BNDD (DEA), and Secret Service.

Powerlifting
While in the Army and later with the Phoenix Police Department, Tom became an avid Powerlifter. His body took to strength training and he eventually became the Arizona State Champion for several years, a nationally ranked competitor with the United States Powerlifting Federation, and ultimately listed as one of the 10 strongest men in the world. HI stop lift included an 804 pound squat, 500-pound bench press and 785-pound deadlift. With family and business demands he left powerlifter in 1983, but remains devoted to weight training this day, at 70+ years old. Up until 2020 he produced and performed in the Sedona Arizona-based Graffiti Gold Show.

TV Career
An entertainment, variety talk show 1990-1991, taped before a live studio audience, for KUTP channel 45 in Phoenix, AZ. Guests included James Doohan (Scotty in Star Trek), Jamie Farr (Clinger in Mash), Ben Johnson (Pepper in Chisum), Ed Asner (Lou Grant), Tony award winner Ray Walston, boxer Michael Carbajal, Susan Dey (L.A. Law), Leslie Easterbrook (Police Academy), and many more.

Acting
Seeing how much fun his uncle Vic Tayback had with an acting career, Tom always dreamed of giving it a stab one day. That day came after he sold his nutritional supplement company and moved back to the Hollywood area. Over a span of just 5 years, he landed roles in commercials, TV shows and movies. In 1993 Tom guest-starred in the premiere episode of the New Route 66 for NBC. In 1994 he guest starred in one of the most replayed episodes of Rescue 911, hosted by William Shatner for CBS. Also, 1994 found him starring as a body-snatching alien for New Line Cinema Productions in the motion picture sequel “Hidden II - The Spawning”. In 1995 he starred as Homicide Detective Sergeant Gold in “Undercover” (with Meg Foster and Jeffrey Dean Morgan) for Axis Films International. In 1996 Tom starred as Mark Peers, who signed Jimi Hendrix to his first recording contract in “Jimi". And also in 1996, Tom starred in the title role as “Grizzly Adams and The Legend of Dark Mountain” (with Joseph Campanella, Mickey Jones and Lindsay Bloom).

Radio
Tom’s radio career started with guest appearances on Phoenix and Las Vegas stations, talking about health and fitness. Upon purchasing am780 KAZM – Sedona, AZ from his parents, he changed the format to News/Talk/Sports and became an affiliate with ESPN, the Arizona Diamondbacks, Arizona Cardinals, Phoenix Suns and Arizona Coyotes. Additionally, the station adopted a full-service role with award winning local shows, including “Chick Chat” hosted by his wife Robinette, and “Sports Talk” hosted by his son Mike, along with a Monday-Friday daily morning show co-hosted with both. A true family operation.

Personal Life
Tom has been married to his high school sweetheart for 50 years. Robinette keeps him grounded. They have 2 sons (Mike & Tom) 8 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren. A family living Tom’s axiom: “When you realize you started too young - - - - It’s too late”.