Daily Herald Sports Editor Tom Quinlan joined the newspaper in 1978 after working as a VISTA volunteer in Kansas City's inner-city neighborhoods for a year in which he served as a tutor, a coach and a community organizer.

He held numerous positions at the Daily Herald before becoming Sports Editor not long after Michael Jordan's first retirement. Among his roles: copy editor, Rolling Meadows reporter, Assistant News Editor/columnist for Lake County, Assistant Features Editor, Features Editor, City Editor, Weekend News Editor, and Metro Editor. While he is proud of the Sports staff for winning the Associated Press Sports Editor Sports Section honors, he is most proud of the staff's work throughout some of Chicago's biggest events: local coverage of the Solheim Cup, PGA Championships and PGA events, the Breeders' Cup and Arlington Million, playoff drives by the Cubs, the World Series title by the White Sox in 2005, the Bears run to the Super Bowl in 2006, the Bulls title runs in the 1990s, and the Stanley Cup Championship by the Blackhawks as well as the Winter Classic at Wrigley Field.

While his main responsibility is directing the pro sports staff, he enjoys attending suburban pro sports events, college games and high school sports. As one of 13 children growing up in rural Iowa (as opposed to the Big City life in Iowa), he and his siblings played lots of sports and games to occupy their time. While sitting on the bench for a winless high school basketball team, he developed an appreciation for sports writing, which led him to the University of Iowa, where he graduated with a major in journalism and also worked as a correspondent for the Des Moines Register, Cedar Rapids Gazette and Iowa City Press Citizen. Tom and his wife, Susan, live in Mount Prospect.