SPOKANE, Wash. — During any given high school football season in the Inland Northwest, you'd be sure to find Tom Sherry talking about the game and delivering the weather forecast from the field.
Each week, KREM 2 News selected two local football games. Students, parents and football fans were asked to vote for which football game Chief Meteorologist Tom Sherry would visit on the following Friday.
For years, Tom's Tailgate highlighted some of the strongest school spirit in the Inland Northwest. Until 2019, Tom would visit local high schools to display the student's strong sense of community, and would still manage to give viewers the weather forecast they needed.
Here are some of the most memorable experiences from Tom's Tailgate:
Just days after a fatal shooting at Freeman High School, their football team took the field under the Friday night lights.
KREM 2’s Tom Sherry visited Freeman High on that Friday night in 2017 for the game as the community and kids came together and celebrated Freeman Strong.
Before the game, both the Freeman and Medical Lake teams joined hands at the 50-yard line. They also held a moment of silence to honor Sam Strahan, who was killed in the shooting, as well as the three girls who were injured.
Tom Sherry and Tom's Tailgate visited the Pomeroy Pirates at St. John-Endicott-Lacrosse Eagles game on October 18, 2018.
The match-ups were Chewelah at Kettle Falls and Pomeroy at St. John-Endicott-Lacrosse.
The voting was the closest KREM 2 had seen that year, with Pomeroy at St. John-Endicott-Lacrosse winning by just 388 out of 29,181 votes.
St. John-Endicott-Lacrosse received 50.7% of the vote, or 14,554 votes. Chewelah at Kettle Falls received 49.3% of the vote, or 14,166 votes.
On Sept. 20, 2019, Tom's Tailgate Forecast went to the University at Gonzaga Prep game.
The game received nearly 54% of the votes.
More than 6,700 votes were cast.
Tom's Tailgate was an annual tradition at KREM 2 until 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced most schools to transition to online learning. Despite this, there are countless memorable Tom's Tailgate stories certain to put viewers in a joyful spirit.
You can watch more Tom's Tailgate here.