Catching up with Tom Poland: A Life of Southern Stories

By Karen Owens
Publisher

My friend Paige Sawyer called recently with news: Tom Poland was coming to Georgetown to speak to the Winyah Indigo Society. Did I know Tom, and would I be interested in interviewing him? “Well yes,” I responded. I’ve known Tom for years, having met him through a co-worker of mine at the state Commerce Department. His weekly column also appears in the Gazette and our other Who’s On the Move publications across the state.

Before his speaking engagement, we met in the lobby of the George Hotel to catch up. With Tom, a conversation is bound to lead to a good story. I was eager to see where this one would take us.

He asked whether I had read his story How A Mule Kick Killed Eight People. I hadn’t, so he gave me a quick rundown and said it would be part of his remarks to the Indigo Society. You can read the story here.

When I asked how he got into writing, Tom said he had always known it was what he wanted to do. He loved to read and write, though he also hoped to play football for a small Southern college—Presbyterian College, Newberry or Furman. A running back who also played safety, he recalled, “You could be pretty fast for a white boy and still be slow,” with a chuckle. An injury near the end of his senior high school season cut short that dream, and he went on to attend the University of Georgia.

I asked about writers who had inspired him, mentioning Lewis Grizzard, another Georgia writer whose work I admired. Tom said their time at the University of Georgia had overlapped, although Grizzard was a few years older. That led to a story about Bob Lamb, a former writer for the Augusta Herald and the Atlanta Journal Constitution, whom Tom encountered while teaching feature writing as an adjunct professor at the University of South Carolina. Lamb told him an editor had offered him a daily column at the AJC. He declined, figuring he could manage a weekly column, but not a daily one. “Turns out the next writer up was Lewis Grizzard, and he said he’d give it a shot. As they say, the rest is history,” Tom said.

After graduating from Georgia, Tom taught at Columbia College. Four years of teaching students not much younger than himself convinced him it was time for a change. He applied for a cinematography position at the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and, thanks to his strong writing skills, beat out 80 other candidates. He stayed for seven years, then spent five years freelancing before joining Policy Management Systems Corporation in Columbia as speechwriter for CEO Larry Wilson. He also wrote speeches for Governors Carroll Campbell and Dick Riley. Having written a few speeches for elected officials myself, I enjoyed swapping some funny war stories with him.

Along the way, Poland has written 14 books and more than 2,000 feature articles and columns. He likes to write three or four columns at a time, keeping a reserve as he travels the state in search of inspiration. In 2018, Governor Henry McMaster awarded him the Order of the Palmetto, the state’s highest civilian honor.

He is currently working on a rock ’n’ roll memoir for Chuck Leavelle, who played keyboards with the Allman Brothers Band during the 1970s and has performed alongside such greats as Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and George Harrison.

His speaking calendar keeps him traveling throughout the Southeast, visiting garden clubs, book clubs, writing enthusiasts and groups like our friends at the Winyah Indigo Society. Tom shared that he had undergone triple bypass surgery last year but had fully recovered. He was grateful to keep doing what he loves—and does so well: sharing captivating stories about the South, its people, natural places, culture and history.

It was a pleasure to catch up with a friend whose work I have admired for so many years. Tom has a gift for finding stories worth telling, and I’m glad our visit gave me one to share with you. Until next time…