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Tom Manning

Caller

Tom Manning has been around square dancing all of his life.  As he grew up, instead of getting a babysitter, Tom went along to the dances and sat on the sidelines just watching everyone else dance.  One night at the Circle Square B Square Dance Club in Burlington they were starting a beginners’ class.  For some reason there were about two squares of youth there with their parents.  When his dad asked Tom if he wanted to take lessons, Tom didn’t know any better and said yes.  That was in September of 1970 at the age of 8, and has been in the square dance activity ever since.

 

Dancing wasn’t enough for Tom.  In the fall of 1974 Don Roberts, a caller from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was calling a dance at the club with Tom in attendance.  After one of Don’s tips, Don started talking to Tom and told him, he danced just like a caller, and gave him a record to learn.  The calling bug had hit.  By the spring of 1975 and at the age of twelve Tom was calling guest tips around Southeast Iowa.


Tom owns and produces Solid Gold Records and is partner with Bob Asp in Solid Gold Sound, providing sound for State Conventions and area festivals.  He is a member of CALLERLAB serving on the Mainstream and Plus committees and the Applications Review Committee.  He is also a member of the Southeast Iowa Callers Association having held every office.

 

Tom is currently president of the Iowa State Caller, Cuer, and Instructors Association.  In 2002 Tom was inducted into the Iowa Square Dance Callers Hall of Fame and in 2010; he and Ella were inducted into the Illinois Square Dance Hall of Fame.

 

Tom graduated from Western Illinois University in 1984 with a Bachelor in Business and has received his Masters in Education from Ashford University.  Tom is now teaching at Burlington High School in the business department.  He hopes to use his influence to help get modern square dancing back in the schools.

 

Tom married his high school sweetheart, Ella in 1983.  Their dates consisted of going to Tom’s dances and lessons.  That is how Ella learned to square dance.

Tom Manning

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© 2025 by The State Council of Illinois Square Dance Associations

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