You’ve heard of the King of Pop.  Now meet the King of T-Shirts. It’s senior Tom Gordon, who hopes his nine intramural championship T-Shirts don’t clash with the crown.   

Gordon was cut from the varsity soccer team his freshman year but didn’t let his athletic career careen into oblivion. Instead, he’s become an intramural legend and  turned his T-shirt drawer into a trophy case.

The 5-foot-9-inch dynamo from Penfield, N.Y., has spent four years devouring intramural competition like he’s Kobayashi.

Out of 18 leagues played, he has two shirts from both softball and indoor soccer, and one each from outdoor soccer, kickball, basketball, floor hockey and volleyball. It’s a resume as impressive for its dominance as its versatility.  

“I just love to compete,” he said. “I hate losing more than anything.”

For Gordon and intramurals, it was love at first sight. His freshman year, he and a few buddies entered the spring softball tournament. They didn’t win, but it was the beginning of something special.

“It’s a great time playing, but it’s not about the T-shirts,” he likes to remind you. “It’s about telling someone you can beat them.”

That’s an art Gordon has mastered — and with flair. His team names, like G-Baby’s Bombers, the Peter Northstars, Hippie Jam Fest 2004 (for ultimate Frisbee, of course) and the 420 Bros are always worth looking for on the schedule.

The antics on the field are just as good. When Gordon won his first T-shirt, senior Andrew Garnitz, better known as G-Baby and the unofficial Head Coach of G-Baby’s Bombers, wore a full suit to the game, a la Mike Nolan.

“It was awesome” Garnitz said. “That’s what Gordon’s teams are all about.”

Gordon might not have the most T-shirts on campus, but the ones he wins aren’t exactly home runs that squeaked their way around the Pesky Pole.

He doesn’t stoop to the co-rec level to inflate his total. Each shirt is hard-fought, won from playing against the very best non-varsity athletes Ithaca College has to offer. He won’t play if the level of competition “isn’t good enough.”

And how does Gordon stay active enough to play at least three or four intramural games a week? Well, outside of that intense drive to compete, it might have something to do with his insatiable appetite for energy drinks.

“Some days I’ll drink two of them,” he said.

Whatever the secret, Gordon has left an impression even varsity athletes have noticed.

“I can only win four Empire 8 Championship T-shirts,” senior softball pitcher Nicole Cade said. “He’s got more than double that.”