Sparta
Some people spend their lives searching for success. Tommy Pedigo spent his finding ways to bring it back home.
Long before he became Sparta's mayor, before city council meetings, economic initiatives and community celebrations, Pedigo was a boy growing up in the mountains of White County, working at a sawmill where life wasn't always easy. Looking back now, he believes those early years shaped every decision that followed.
"I grew up in the mountains at a sawmill," Pedigo said. "The people we worked with didn't have a lot. I left there and knew that I didn't want to go back. I wanted to get an education and go for more."
A 1965 graduate of White County High School, Pedigo began work at Douglas Aircraft right after graduation. But it didn't take long for him to realize he wanted something more than a job.
"I wanted to get an education," he said.
After enrolling at Cumberland College in Lebanon, Pedigo transferred to the University of Tennessee, where he earned his degree in 1972. He then began his career as a teacher at Sweetwater High School, spending two years in the classroom working with students and discovering the value of serving others through leadership.
Although he enjoyed teaching, Pedigo realized his future was leading him in a different direction. He accepted a position with State Farm, beginning what would become a 42-year career with the company. Starting as an insurance agent, he steadily rose through the ranks into management, gaining the leadership and business experience that would later prepare him for public office.
But even as his career flourished, White County never stopped feeling like home.
"I left Sparta with nothing and came back with something to offer," he said. "I wanted to give back to this community."
After decades of building a successful career away from home, the opportunity Pedigo had been waiting for finally arrived. When longtime Sparta Mayor Bob Breeding retired, Pedigo saw more than an open office—he saw a chance to fulfill the promise he had made to himself years earlier when he left White County.
Returning to the community that had shaped him, Pedigo was elected mayor in 2002. For the next eight years, he focused less on politics and more on people, viewing the role as an opportunity to strengthen the town that had given him his start and invest in its future.
His administration continued expanding Liberty Square, helping build on the foundation previous city leaders had established while creating new opportunities for the growing downtown.
One memory still stands out years later.
When officials in Cookeville were hosting a delegation from Egypt, they asked if Pedigo would give the visitors a tour of Sparta.
He remembers walking them around the historic square, sharing the story of the Oldham Theater and pointing to the cemetery overlooking downtown, explaining that veterans from every American war are buried there.
"It was a great opportunity," he said.
Those moments of sharing Sparta's story with others remain just as meaningful as the larger projects completed during his administration.
He also helped launch the Highlands Initiative alongside Cookeville, strengthening regional cooperation while working to improve opportunities across the Upper Cumberland.
"We had a great city council," Pedigo said. "We worked together for the betterment of the people."
Some of Pedigo's most lasting memories, however, had little to do with ribbon cuttings or development projects. They came during moments when the community was asked to come together in the face of uncertainty.
As mayor, Pedigo stood alongside families, veterans and community members as Sparta's National Guard unit prepared to deploy overseas following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He remembers the mixture of pride and heartbreak that filled those send-off ceremonies as soldiers left behind their loved ones to serve their country in Afghanistan.
"It was a very heartfelt experience working with the National Guard, thanking them and sending them off," he said. "I was so proud that I was able to do that."
For Pedigo, those moments served as a reminder that being mayor wasn't just about overseeing city projects—it was about standing with people during some of the most important days of their lives.
After leaving office, Pedigo moved back to Morristown expecting retirement to slow life down.
It didn't.
Retirement lasted only briefly before he joined a local real estate agency. A few years later, he purchased the business himself. Today, he leads the company as its CEO, overseeing a team of agents while remaining active in the community.
Public service, however, wasn't finished with Pedigo.
After returning to work and building his real estate business, he once again felt called to serve his community. In 2015, he was elected to the Morristown City Council, where he continues to serve today as vice mayor. More than a decade after leaving Sparta's mayoral office, Pedigo remains committed to the same principles that guided him throughout his career—working alongside fellow council members, listening to residents and helping shape the future of the community he now calls home.
For Pedigo, public office has never been about holding a title. Whether serving as Sparta's mayor or Morristown's vice mayor, he has viewed leadership as an opportunity to give back to the people who have given him so much.
These days, much of his free time belongs to his grandchildren. Yet despite building another life in East Tennessee, he still returns to Sparta about once a month to catch up with lifelong friends and fellow members of the White County High School Class of 1965.
The roads may have taken him far from the mountains where he grew up, but they always seem to lead back home.
Looking over a career that carried him from a sawmill to city hall, from insurance executive to business owner, Pedigo doesn't measure success by titles or accomplishments. Instead, he measures it by the people and places that shaped him.
"If I were to die tomorrow," he said, "I would die a blessed man, and Sparta had a lot to do with that."
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