After a 1974 game against Alabama, legendary Crimson Tide coach Paul “Bear” Bryant grumbled of Vanderbilt that “Their defense whipped our line of scrimmage.”
As The Vanderbilt Hustler noted at the time, much of Bryant’s ire was likely inspired by Tom Galbierz, who finished the game with 14 tackles and “put aside one of the best centers in the Southeastern Conference, Sylvester Croom, for most of the game.”
It was what he did best. A defensive lineman who was the heart and soul of the Vanderbilt team that reached the 1974 Peach Bowl, Galbierz was one of the SEC’s toughest—and most prolific—tacklers.
Galbierz was an undersized interior lineman by SEC standards, but few Commodores ever made better use of the size they had. At Affton High School in Missouri, Galbierz completed back-to-back undefeated wrestling seasons, first at 185 pounds and then as a heavyweight. He used those lessons in leverage to his advantage on the football field.
He lettered as a freshman in 1972 but came into his own after Steve Sloan arrived as head coach in 1973. After leading the team with 136 tackles as a sophomore, when the Commodores matched their best win total since 1955, Galbierz was even more influential the next season.
In 1974, he led the Commodores with 111 tackles and earned second-team All-SEC honors while leading a defense that held five opponents to 10 or fewer points. The Commodores registered a 7-3-2 record, winning as many as seven games for just the second time since 1950 and reaching a bowl game for the second time ever. Vanderbilt and Texas Tech played to a 6-6 tie in the Peach Bowl, still the stingiest showing by a Vanderbilt defense in any bowl game.
A captain as a senior in 1975, when the Commodores again won seven games under Fred Pancoast, he led the team with 148 tackles—then the single-season school record.
In all, Vanderbilt amassed a 22-21-4 record with Galbierz on the defensive line.
In the 50 years for which records of season leaders are available, Galbierz is one of only three Vanderbilt players to lead the team in tackles for three consecutive seasons. He is seventh in career tackles.
Perhaps his own words offer the best summation: He told the Hustler that he always took the field intending to “demolish the blocker with my left hand and scoop up the runner with my right.”
A Peabody graduate, he is co-founder and CEO of Retentus GSquared Medical, a medical equipment company.
