Tom Ward hailed from the Orkney Isle of Sanday and was the eldest son of a local County Councillor. He moved to London where he became a constable in the Metropolitan Police Force. Ward won police wrestling titles and was the British freestyle light-heavyweight champion in 1936-37, and 1943. A reserve for Scotland in the heavyweight class at the 1934 British Empire Games in London, he was the light-heavyweight first choice at Sydney four years later when he won a bronze medal. Ward also competed in the 1935 European Championships at Bruxelles but suffered defeats in his opening two rounds, and it was a similar story at the Berlin Olympics the following year.