He played hurling at various times with his local clubs Feohanagh-Castlemahon and Effin and was the goalkeeper on the Limerick senior inter-county team from 1976 until 1993.
[2] The son of Bridie (née Collins) and Jack Quaid, he was born into a family that had a strong association with hurling.
He won a senior Munster title the following year when a Mick Mackey-trained team shocked Clare in the provincial decider.
[2] Quaid trained as a fitter with the local Golden Vale company and later set up his own engineering business.
While working on the Credit Union building in Charleville, the place of his birth, Quaid fell twenty feet from some scaffolding and landed on his back, hitting his head in the process.
In spite of being a goalkeeper at inter-county level he played as a forward during most of his club career and, more often than not, he also served as the team's free-taker.
Success, however, also eluded him in this grade as he suffered the heartbreak of losing four consecutive Under-21 West Division finals.
Quaid later joined the county under-21 hurling team, however, in spite of a disastrous Munster final appearance in 1977, he enjoyed little success.
Quaid's side contested the Munster final 1976, however, Cork were victorious on that occasion as Limerick went into decline.
After an exciting seventy minutes Cork's hopes were dashed by 2–14 to 2–10 as Quiad collected a first Munster winners' medal.
After some time out of the limelight Quaid won a third National League medal in 1992 following a one-point victory over Tipperary.
[7] In spite of ending up on the losing side Quaid's championship performance earned him his first, and only, All-Star award.
[9] Quaid also won numerous awards as an individual and in pairs competitions in the All-Ireland Poc Fada Championship.
[1] A poem was written by Garry McMahon in the wake of his death called Lament for Tommy Quaid.
[10] On 1 May 2008, the Iverahain Golf Society launched the inaugural Tommy Quaid Perpetual Cup in 'The Hurlers', Castletroy, County Limerick.
Membership of the society is confined to men who have worn the hurling Number 1 jersey at senior inter-county level for one of the six Munster counties.
The Tommy Quaid Perpetual Cup is awarded to the winner of this annual competition and the outing will alternate between the six Munster counties over the coming years.