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Tom Leydon is joining WFXT-TV FOX 25 is Boston as sports director, FOX 25 news director Lee Rosenthal announced on Friday.

Tom comes to FOX 25 from Scripps station WXYZ-TV ABC 7 in Detroit, MI where he currently holds the same position. Tom has been with WXYZ since 2004, and in 2012 was named sports director there.

Of his time in Detroit, Tom said "We got to see so many things, from Rose Bowls to Final Fours to World Series to Stanley Cup Finals; the whole combination, that's rare, it doesn't exist in a lot of markets."

In his 11 years at WXYZ, Tom has been recognized with numerous awards or nominations. Most recently, he won a Best Sportscast award from the Associated Press, an award that he also took home in 2010, 2011 & 2013.

He has also been honored as the best sports reporter and best sports anchor in Michigan multiple times, among other awards. Tom has also been nominated for 23 local Emmy awards, and has won 10.

Part of Tom's appeal is reaching out to a broad audience, and not just die-hard sports fans.

"I can talk x's and o's, but I really enjoy speaking to people who may not know a lot about sports and trying to make the story mean something to them, too. Emotion should always guide you" he said in his bio on WXYZ.com.

Before coming to WXYZ, Tom was a sports anchor/reporter for WFMZ-TV 69, an independent television in Allentown, PA.

He has also worked for the NHL as a sales and marketing manager, and for the NFL as a publishing account executive.

A native of Westport, CT, Tom is a 1994 graduate of Boston College.

While Tom loves his job at WXYZ, his move to Boston comes down to family.

"The most difficult decision I've ever made, without question," Leyden told The Detroit News this week. "If I could pick up my job in Detroit and move it to that location, I would have."

Tom has two sisters that live in the Boston area, and his parents still live in the same Westport, CT home he grew up in. Having two young daughters, Dahlia, 8, and Olivia, almost 7, it made sense for Leyden and his wife, Nicole, to jump at the job opportunity in Boston, he told The Detroit News. His wife's family is not too far away in Westchester, NY as well.

Boston is a big professional sports town, but the one thing that Tom says is missing is a robust college sports scene.

"It does not have a major college sports footprint," he told The Detroit News. "I'm definitely gonna miss that. Having Michigan and Michigan State, people take that for granted here. I'm not gonna fool anybody and say BC is Michigan or Michigan State."

Tom's colleagues at WXYZ are sad to see him go. "Literally everybody in the building knows Tom and calls Tom a friend," said Brad Galli, a news anchor at WXYZ who also interned under Tom at WXYZ for two summers while in college. "You can't really say that about a sports department that operates in kind of an isolated system. I don't know if I'll ever meet anybody with as much work ethic and creativity combined. The amount of great ideas he had far exceeded anybody I ever worked with."

Tom's always drawn to good music and likes to entertain a party by pounding out a few tunes on the piano. Favorites include "Scenes from An Italian Restaurant," by Billy Joel, "Why Should I Cry For You?" by Sting and "Running to Stand Still," by U2.

Butch Stearns, who has been filling in since Brendan Fitzgerald left for ESPN-u, will continue to contribute to FOX 25 on a part-time basis.

Tom starts at FOX 25 in April, in time for opening day at the Boston Red Sox.

 

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