H. Thomas Nicholls Jr.

Herbert Thomas “Tom” Nicholls Jr. was born July 29, 1926 and passed away July 28, 2024. The son of Herbert and Julia Nicholls, he attended Denver Public Schools, graduating from Denver North High School in 1944. He attended Denver University and Colorado State Teacher’s College, now known as the University of Northern Colorado. He received a Master’s Degree in Physical Education from the University of Colorado in 1958.

First and foremost, in Tom’s life were his marriage, his family, and his faith.

Tom married Betty Marie Leach on June 4, 1950. They were married for 62 years before Betty passed in February 2013. Into this union, four children were born, Herbert Thomas Nicholls III (Tee), Katherine, Charles, and Judy. The family made their home in Golden for over twenty years. They spent many summers traveling across the country. Tom and Betty moved to Perry Park, Colorado in 1982. For the last thirteen years, he lived at the Courtyards at Mountain View, in Denver.

Tom taught and coached at Arvada High School from 1949 -1985. He was the head wrestling coach for 28 years. His teams had 17 district and league championships, 15 individual state champions, 37 state place winners, four college all-Americans, and two NCAA National Champions.

In 1957 Tom was elected President of the Colorado Wrestling Coaches Association. In the early 1960’s he helped start a wrestling cultural exchange program and hosted the first touring Japanese team in Colorado. Tom was appointed Cultural Exchange Chairman for the Colorado Wrestling Coaches Association in 1963 and continued this exchange into the 1970s. In 1974, he helped coach the Colorado team that went to Japan. During the 1970s, He helped prepare teams for international competition throughout Europe. In 1976, he took a team to Greece.

In 1975 he was appointed Wrestling Chairman and was a member of the Executive Board of the Rocky Mountain Association of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). Tom was appointed to the Board of Directors of the AAU of the United States (1978) and was elected President of the Rocky Mountain AAU (1982). He continued working with the AAU until 1994.

He was inducted into the Jefferson County Schools Athletics Hall of Fame (1987) and into the University of Northern Colorado Alumni Hall of Fame (1989). In 2002, he received a Lifetime Service Award from the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

In their retirement, Tom and Betty were avid Air Force Academy football fans, loved to travel, play golf, and research genealogy.

Tom is preceded in death by his wife Betty, his son, Herbert Thomas Nicholls III (Tee), and his granddaughter Heather Nicholls. He is survived by his son Charles (Barbara), and his two daughters Katherine (Philip) Morrow and Judy (Keith) Mead and his granddaughters Sara Perry, Ann Marie LeClere, Kristen Lindsay, Laura Hughes, Erica Concilio, Stacy Young, April Nicholls, and Heidi Nicholls-Layman, and twelve great grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the U.N.C. Alumni Association or to Wycliffe Bible Translators.

U.N.C Alumni Association

Designate to U.N.C. Foundation Alumni Association

Campus Box 20

Greely, CO 80639

Wycliffe Bible Translators

P.O. Box 628200

Orlando, FL 32862

Please include a separate note stating: Preference for the Wycliffe Ministry of Brian and Sarah Rickard, Account 229838