Tom Young

TOM YOUNG, FITNESS INDUSTRY PIONEER, DIES AT 92

Tom Young, a pioneer in the development of the modern fitness industry in the American West, passed away at the age of 92, surrounded by his family.

Tom grew up in Queens, New York, and proudly served his country in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. His military service was an important part of a life that would go on to include entrepreneurship, invention, ranching, and a lifelong commitment to health and fitness.

Tom was the beloved husband of Connie Young, his wife and partner of more than six decades. He was the proud father of ten children: Karen Medrano (Tom), Sharon Roybal (Jeff), Tommy Young (Ana), Jeff Gunn, Jeni Young, Shelly Gunn, Glenda Young, Brenda Young, Glenn Young, and Kurt Young, as well as a grandfather and great-grandfather to dozens of family members.

Tom founded and operated Tom Young’s Fitness Centers and numerous other health and fitness facilities throughout New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas. At the height of his career, his fitness organization included approximately 45 racquetball clubs and fitness centers, in addition to other health-spa and fitness operations developed throughout the region.

Beginning at a time when weight training and organized fitness were far from mainstream, Tom helped pioneer the combination of fitness centers, health spas, exercise, swimming, racquetball, recreation, and wellness under one roof. During the 1970s, he was among the early fitness entrepreneurs to combine separate men’s and women’s spa facilities with full-service exercise and recreational centers, helping establish a model that would later become familiar throughout the modern health-club industry.

Over the course of his career, Tom’s clubs and fitness businesses served an estimated 500,000 members. Generations of families exercised in his facilities, and thousands of people worked within the businesses he created over several decades.

For Tom, those numbers represented much more than memberships. His clubs became communities where people improved their health, developed friendships, built confidence, and often remained members for many years. Tom personally knew and befriended many of those members and took enormous satisfaction in watching people become healthier and stronger.

His influence extended far beyond the walls of his own facilities. Tom became a respected figure in the bodybuilding and fitness community and interacted with many prominent athletes and bodybuilders, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lou Ferrigno, and Tom Platz. He also judged bodybuilding competitions and was an early practitioner of what would eventually become known as personal training, working directly with individuals decades before personal training became an established profession.

Tom believed fitness was about much more than appearance. To him, it represented strength, health, confidence, discipline, longevity, and a positive approach to life.

He lived by the simple philosophy he often shared with others:

“Think positive, work out, take vitamins, eat right, and you’ll live healthy.”

He continued exercising and lifting weights well into his 90s.

Despite his many professional accomplishments, Tom considered his family his greatest legacy. He taught his children and those around him to work hard, stay strong, think positively, take care of themselves, and never give up.

Tom will be remembered not only for helping shape the fitness industry throughout the American West, but also for the hundreds of thousands of members, employees, friends, athletes, and families whose lives crossed through the clubs he created.

Most importantly, he will be remembered for the countless people he encouraged, mentored, employed, befriended, and inspired throughout his remarkable life.