Youth Services System Names Tom Burgoyne Its 2021 ‘Good Samaritan’
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WHEELING -- Over a long career as a FBI agent, Ohio County Sheriff, coach, mentor, and community leader, Tom Burgoyne has a lot to look back on as far as teachable moments for local youth.
Burgoyne's life of service to his community saw Youth Services System name him its 2021 Good Samaritan. Burgoyne, 79, moved to Wheeling in 1967, where he settled down and started a family. He headed the local drug task force before retiring in 1996, then continued to work in law enforcement, being elected Ohio County Sheriff in 2000, a role he held until 2008.
At Wednesday's brief ceremony recognizing him, Burgoyne reflected on the key word to describe his life, and he settled on "fairness," a concept which he sought to emulate in his career in law enforcement and off the clock. He recounted numerous occasions when he would receive Christmas cards from a train robber he helped put away, who Burgoyne said respected the job he did.
"I kind of got a kick out of that, and I gave him credit, because he was pretty good," Burgoyne said, to laughter. "Every Christmas, I would get a nice card, saying 'Thank you so much for being fair.'
"And the same with the drug dealers, when the FBI went after drugs in 1983, it was all about fairness. Why were they selling drugs? Were they doing it out of greed? Or were they selling because their wife was suffering a fatal disease?
"My daughter, who's an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Martinsburg, I told her the same thing," he continued. "'Don't just put them in jail and throw the key away. Find out why they did what they did. Fairness is the key word."
Burgoyne added that he appreciated the recognition, seeing himself as someone who typically worked "in the background" and out of the spotlight.
"It's really a true honor. I can't describe it. I didn't sleep last night, thinking about coming down (Wednesday). After years of service and years of dealing with the youth, ... I think we all have to wake up in the morning and say, 'Who are we going to help today?'"
Afterwards, Burgoyne weighed in on the previous day's conviction of Derek Chauvin, who was convicted for murdering George Floyd last year, sparking a wave of societal pressure seeking accountability for the actions of police. Burgoyne, who continues doing law enforcement work as a private detective, said he's relieved to see societal change taking place.
"It's being done, with the recent jury verdict in Minneapolis. Things are going to change, and they have to change. It's amazing what social media has done to help it change; back in the day, you wouldn't have filmed footage of misdeeds," he said. "… There's something called a mouth. I carried a gun for 41 years, I'm still a private investigator, and I don't carry a gun, because I feel like I can use my mouth to get out of a jam. People need to talk, instead of using force in many, many incidents, and that will change."
YSS CEO John Moses described Burgoyne as being true to his guiding virtue of faithfulness, not only on the job, but as a friend.
"When I think of all the people that we've had the honor of knowing, and have been part of our story all these years, the virtues we've witnessed in them, I think what's most true about Tom is faithfulness," Moses said. "Not only in the many years he's served as a governing board member, but as a friend of this agency since its induction."
He elaborated following the ceremony, saying that Burgoyne's sense of fair play bleeds through in how he treats everyone he meets.
"What I find remarkable about the man is how he treats people, even in his career with law enforcement," Moses said. "The dignity of the human beings he was dealing with was never far from his mind."