TV ALERT: Watch the ServiceTitan HVAC National Championship Friday night, Dec. 20, at 6 pm (ET and PT) on the CBS Sports Network, followed by the Plumbing National Championship at 7 pm (ET and PT). The Electrical Championship will be televised Fri., Dec. 20 at 8 pm ET.
Turns out the teacher is, indeed, a cut above.
Tom Kennedy, a master electrician from Big Bend, WI, claimed his second consecutive title in the IDEAL Electrician National Championship for professionals, one of the competitions in the ServiceTitan Elite Trades Championship Series in West Palm Beach, FL, in September.
Kennedy, a 33-year industry veteran, also teaches at the Milwaukee Area Technical College. Though Kennedy pocketed $10,000 and celebrated a title he didn't expect to win twice, he reveled in having two of his young Pieper Electric teammates, both of them former students, with him.
Kyle Bath claimed second place in the apprentice competition and won $7,000, and Pieper's Ian Papke also qualified for the 10-apprentice final. Nick Chovan of Ohio’s Jutte Electric Enterprises captured first among apprentices and won $10,000, and Jeremy Myers of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 375 in Bethlehem, PA, claimed third place and $3,000.
"I was real proud to see them make it and compete," Kennedy said of Bath and Papke. "And Kyle took second in the apprenticeship, so that makes me a real proud instructor.
"I gave them advice: Go into this and do what you do at work and try not to make mistakes and flub-ups, and you'll get 'er done.
"I took that same approach this year, and I got 'er done," he said with a chuckle.
The project for the pro final round required competitors to install and wire an electrical subpanel and an air handler with a heat coil and install an electric heat pump water heater and receptacle.
Kennedy, who won the most recent national championship in 2022, didn't find the 90-minute challenge easy, saying he'd need at least four hours on the job to do that work properly. Working quickly, Kennedy soaked his T-shirt in sweat as arena lights glared, judges monitored, TV cameras documented, and the clock ticked.
And he bled.
As Kennedy cut the water heater flex, his bandsaw snagged the cloth of his glove and ripped into his left index finger. Kennedy alerted officials but waved off medical attention because, of course, his tool cart came equipped with tape.
"I put an electrician's band-aid on it, and I went at it and finished the competition," he said with a smile.
A couple of hours and three stitches later–"a mere flesh wound," he called it–Kennedy's day was done.
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Kennedy, who began teaching at the college in 2009, sees plenty of opportunity for those who would consider his industry for a career.
"They're hiring left and right," he said. "And there are more and more advances in technology and data centers and automation, and they just need more people to fill those positions. Electricians: It's not just putting in outlets and lights in the house.
"More and more people are looking at college loan debt, and the trades are becoming more and more attractive," he added. "If you like working with your hands and you like solving problems, being in the trades is a great thing."
