Tom Butler slid for the Adirondack Bobsled Club. Although he won a bronze medal in 1956, his first big championship did not come until 1958 when he slid on the AAU 4-man champions. In 1959 he became one of the few Americans to ride on a non-Olympic world champion sled, when he, Art Tyler, Gary Sheffield and Parker Voorix captured the 4-man championship at St. Moritz. From 1957-59, Butler was brakeman for Tyler in winning four medals at the World Championships, with two bronzes and one silver. Butler was a 1955 graduate of Brown where he also played the line on the football team. There he formed the first ever intercollegiate bobsled club with he and his buddies making weekend trips to Mt. Van Hoevenburg in an old Model A.