What Does College Recruitment Have In Common With Trucking?

Tom Lemming has traveled a mind-boggling 2 million-plus miles and has encountered several scary moments during his 37 years of covering the national recruiting scene.  "I have never had a serious crash," said Lemming.  "I have driven the equivalent of up and back to the moon four times now."

Tom Lemming is a recruiting analyst for CBS Sports Network.  He created the national recruiting business in 1978.  Tom began his business before the internet and had no competition until the early 90's.  Lemming traveled the country primarily by automobile.

Lemming has done all his travel while being slow to embrace modern technology.  Only last year did Tom start using GPS after relying on maps for his first 35 years on the road.  He started texting three years ago, began using Twitter this year and only recently upgraded to an iPhone.

"Up until a couple of years ago, I had a flip phone that didn't work in a lot of states I traveled to across the country, Lemming shared."

Lemming said one of  his most frightening road experiences occurred in 2007 on his way to Buffalo, New York.  When Tom entered New York state the lady at the toll booth warned him that he would be forced off the NY Thruway at the next exit.  Tom had no gloves or any items that would help protect him if forced to evacuate the vehicle.  But, he ignored the warnings  and started seeing alternative routes and got off on a less-traveled road when the full force of the storm hit.

"Within a half hour, the car is covered in snow," said Lemming, who was driving a white rental car.  "There were no other people on the road."  Lemming said he thought about the possibility that he might not make it through the storm alive, with the temperature at 10 degrees and the wind chill below zero.

Lemming eventually got out of the car and walked about a mile and half to the interstate and was able to find help from a trucker, who drove Tom back to his car.  Lemming then followed in the trucker's tire tracks in the snow to get back to the road.  Tom was eventually diagnosed with hypothermia when he reached his destination, but counts himself lucky to have been rescued by a helpful trucker.