Tom Orley was born in Budapest, but emigrated to the United States after the 1956 October Revolution and became a naturalized US citizen. Orley won the 1954 World Junior Championship, while representing Hungary. In the US he competed for the New York Athletic Club. He fenced sabre, winning Amateur Fencers League of America (AFLA) titles in individual sabre in 1959 and team sabre, with the New York AC, in 1962. Orley attended Stanford University and later worked as a technical sales representative.