Thomas O'Neil `33 was born in Sidney in 1916 and attended school there graduating with honors. He was an all-star quarterback and shortstop and the captain of the basketball team. Tom graduated from Harwick College in 1937 and from Albany Law School in 1940. He began his law practice with Homer Owens in Bainbridge, N.Y.
He served in the South Pacific during World War II as a Navy Lieutenant Junior Grade from 1943-45 and in 1946 served in the Judge Advocate General's Office in Washington D.C. He then returned to Sidney to begin his own law practice, and where he lives and works even today, 59 years later.