Former MU star Flynn dies at 75
Tom Flynn bridged two eras of Marquette basketball.
Flynn was a force down low in head coach Eddie Hickey’s last season at MU, and then the 6-foot-6 Milwaukee native was captain for two years under Al McGuire.
Flynn remained a devoted fan of the school’s hoops team until he died last week at 75. He battled multiple myeloma, a cancer affecting the blood, for several years.
“As I understand, he converted some of the staff at the hospital to Marquette fans,” said Martin Holmes, Flynn’s former roommate and teammate at MU. “Because they would always have the games on when Marquette played.”
Flynn was a standout athlete at Messmer High School.
“Tom was a very big guy,” Holmes said. “He had scholarship offers to play football and he had a tryout with the Rams (in the NFL) after he finished Marquette.”
Flynn also competed in the discus and javelin on Marquette’s track and field team.
His size and athletic ability made him a tough cover on the basketball court. Playing his first varsity season as a sophomore in 1963-64, Flynn averaged 17.3 points and 10.2 rebounds per game.
“He could play with his back to the basket, but he was a really good outside shooter,” Holmes said.
Flynn scored 37 points in a 9895 victory over Xavier in the final regular-season game of the 1963’64 season. His 16 field goals in that game were a MU record – tied with George Thompson, Terry Rand and Mike Moran – until Markus Howard hit 17 in his 53-point outing last season at Creighton.
McGuire replaced Hickey as MU’s coach for Flynn’s junior season. Flynn averaged 16.5 points per game and was McGuire’s first captain. MU was 8-18 in 1964-’65,
McGuire’s only losing season at the school. In Flynn’s senior season, MU was 14-12.
“Ed Hickey’s offense was more geared toward a guy like Tom,” Holmes said. “Tom did well with Al, don’t get me wrong, and did what he was supposed to do.
“I really do think there was a significant change with regard to the style we played. Al had him with his back to the basket a lot more. Probably necessarily because we weren’t that big at the time.”
After his playing days ended, Flynn attended MU Law School while helping coach the freshman basketball team. He worked as an FBI agent for 32 years.
Holmes and Flynn stayed close, often vacationing together with their families in the summer.
“As good a basketball player as we was, he was a better man,” Holmes said. “He was a great man. He was a loyal, devoted guy.”
Flynn is survived by his son, Michael, and daughter, Christina. Flynn’s wife of 46 years, Tatjana, died in 2016.