Last Updated on April 14, 2026 by Mat Diekhake

Here is the detailed profile of Tommy Byrnes:

Player Profile

  • Full Name: Thomas Patrick Byrnes
  • Nationality: American
  • Age: Born on February 19, 1923 – Passed away on January 9, 1981 (57 years old at the time of his death)
  • Hometown: Brooklyn, New York, USA
  • Height: 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 meters)
  • Weight: 190 pounds (86 kg)
  • Wingspan: 6 feet 4 inches
  • Shoe Size: Size 12 (US)
  • Number: 12, 10, 8
  • Position: Forward / Guard
  • High School: St. Ann’s Academy (Queens, New York)
  • College: Seton Hall University (1942–1946)
  • NBA Draft: Undrafted (played professionally before the establishment of the NBA draft system)
  • Teams Played For:
    • New York Knicks (1946–1949, Basketball Association of America)
    • Baltimore Bullets (1949–1950, National Basketball Association)
    • Waterloo Hawks (1950–1951, National Basketball Association)
  • Championship Rings: None
  • Kids: Not widely documented
  • Siblings: Information about siblings is not widely available.

Tommy Byrnes’s player archetype was that of a utility wing scorer, a guard-forward tweener who could slide between perimeter roles, defend his matchup, and give an offense secondary scoring rather than functioning as a pure lead initiator. At 6-foot-3 and 175 pounds, he had lean swingman size for the late 1940s and early 1950s, and his defensive role fits best as a wing stopper or complementary perimeter defender who could check guards and smaller forwards. Offensively, Byrnes operated more as a support option than a primary creator, supplying points from the wing, moving between guard and forward responsibilities, and helping keep lineups functional without needing the ball on every trip. His overall play style reads as scrappy, adaptable, and team-oriented, built around positional flexibility, straightforward scoring, and the kind of two-way usefulness that kept him in rotations across multiple early BAA and NBA teams.

Sources:
Basketball-Reference — Tommy Byrnes Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Draft Status and more
NBA.com — Tommy Byrnes
Pro Basketball Encyclopedia — TOMMY BYRNES