Knoxville businessman Tom Black organized, coached, and competed as a member of the Hiwassee College track team while a student in Hiwassee’s preparatory department. In its first year of operation, his team beat every opponent, including the UT freshmen, and won the East Tennessee Track Meet. In 1924 Black began work as a mechanic. In 1927 he went on the road as a salesman for a razor strap company. From 1928 to 1930 he was a salesman for the National Biscuit Company in the East Tennessee territory. From 1930 to 1934 he was an agent for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in Knoxville.
In 1934 Black made his first entry into the potato chip business and operated a truck of his own. He made his first sale to the UT sandwich shop. He became manager of the Barrett Food Products Company in Knoxville and left that firm in 1938 to form his own company—the Tom Black Distributing Company. He later started a highly successful processing, packaging, and distribution company for snack foods, which merged with the Tom Houston Company in 1960. An aviation enthusiast, he owned and flew his own plane.
A member of the university’s Development Council and its chairman from 1966 to 1967, his 1965 contribution of $50,000 from the Tom and Katherine Black Foundation allowed the development of the Tom Black Track Complex. Tom and Mary Katherine (Whitten) Black were also generous contributors to the Intensive Care Nursery, which bears their name, at UT Hospital.