In 1981, when running as a designated pacemaker or 'rabbit' in the high-profile 1500 meters race at the Bislett Games in Oslo, he won against a field including Olympic champion and world record holder Steve Ovett, after the rest of the field refused to follow his early pacesetting.
Byers was a runner at Ohio State University in the 1970s and still holds the outdoor OSU distance record in the 1500m (3.37.5).
Junior 1500m title, finished second at the AAU outdoor championships, and participated in the '76 Olympic Trials.
The world record holder Steve Ovett was a strong favourite to win the race, and Byers had only been called in at the last minute to act as a pacemaker.
One of his sons, Thomas Joseph Byers III (1985–2005), was a distance runner for Coffman High School in Dublin, Ohio (where he graduated in the same class as fellow student-athlete Brady Quinn), and went on to run at the University of Kentucky and the University of Mississippi.