The prodigious Dorminy family as well as Governor Brian Kemp are Winners. John and Ann Dorminy have a bumper crop-six children, home schooled and model adolescents. Tommy explained to Bob Slowpants that Ann’s home schooling was not spoon-fed but largely based on projects that he had to research and complete to achieve credit. This provided the initiative and self confidence exuded by him and his siblings. They also learn many “MOOCs”, Massive Open Online Classes, often taught by important professors at major universities. EdX.org and Courses.org offer some free classes such as Harvard’s Greek mythology that some of his family currently take. The Dorminy system, home schooling from grades one through twelve has, to date, produced MIT and Baylor University graduates in sciences. The Dorminy siblings gain college admission and scholarships with homemade high school transcripts largely on the strength of their national level competition awards and their SAT test scores. Tommy followed his older brother to Baylor, only to realize that it was not a good fit for him. Besides studying his business and economics classes online, Tommy cheers for Arizona State University Sun Devils basketball team which is coached by a former Blue Devil player from this parents Duke University days.
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The Dorminy tribe resides on a twenty-five-acre farm near McDonough, GA where his father is an Edward Jones investment advisor. The children are expected to complete chores on the farm before their daily study routine. Animals such as cattle, goats, and poultry are raised on the Dorminy spread. The family maintains several food plots that are safe zones or sanctuaries for birds, dogs, and other wildlife since they do not allow hunting on their farm property. The size of the Dorminy family was apparent when Tommy confirmed that fourteen members, which included spouses of Tommy’s older brothers attended Thanksgiving lunch at their home in November. I joked that mother Ann was cited by Henry County for not having a food service restaurant permit to serve that many individuals.
Tommy was very visible in the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial campaign as an intern on the election staff of Brain Kemp. Duties included assembling and deploying campaign signs as well as door to door solicitation for his candidate. After Governor Kemp’s successful election Tommy assisted in planning Appreciation Events for donors and campaign workers, assembling packets to be sent to donors, and planning inaugural events. Tommy is now considering a post college career as a political consultant. As a handsome well-spoken young man, he has a future in the political arena. He intends to stay involved with state politics while continuing his “home schooled” college education.
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Tommy’s mind is as fast as his feet. Tommy consistently places in the top three of a race, not just in his age group. He has consistently placed at the top of the 15-19 male age group in Run and See Georgia, Black Bag, and Clover Glove race series. His 5K times are in the low to sub twenty minutes range. Father John, two sisters Becky and Suzie, and little brother Pi are frequent attendees at Athens area races and those in the southeast quadrant of Atlanta, south of I-285. Tommy is still part of the Dorminy immediate family not withstanding that he now drives his own pick up truck to races as opposed to riding with John and the other three participating siblings. As his father once told me, anytime the Dorminy family shows up at a race, the event is “financially successful”. The Dorminys are truly winners. Many of the senior runners feel like we have had the pleasure of growing up with Tommy and his siblings over the years of racing.
Bob checking out from the back of the pack. Watch for the profile of Lisa Vaughn and the profile of Augusta’s Steve Strickland.