Derrick Vincent Thomas (dated January 1, 1967 - February 8, 2000), dubbed DT , is an American football midfielder and defensive end to Kansas City Chief of the National Football League (NFL). He played all 11 years of his career with the Chiefs after being composed as a fourth overall in the 1989 NFL Draft. Thomas, a member of the 2009 Pro Football Hall of Fame class, was a major soccer player throughout the 1990s and considered one of the best passing all-time. In 1990, against the Seattle Seahawks, he made an NFL record with seven sacks in one game. On February 8, 2000, Thomas died of a blood clot developing on his paralyzed leg and traveled to his lungs, causing a pulmonary embolism. His paralysis was the result of a severe injury suffered in a car accident 16 days earlier. Thomas was inaugurated posthumously into the High Level Football Hall of Fame in 2014 and Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009.
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Born in Miami, Florida, Thomas was raised by his mother. His father, Air Force Captain and B-52 pilot Robert James Thomas, died during a mission in the Vietnam War. Thomas started playing soccer when he was three, and played his high school football in South Miami High School.
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College career
Together with Cornelius Bennett and later Keith McCants in Alabama, Thomas pioneered one of the best defense lines in college football and destroyed many Crimson Tide defense records, including sacks in a season. He was awarded the Butkus Award in 1988 after a season that set him a NCAA record of 27 sacks along with finishing 10th in Heisman Trophy balloting. He currently holds an NCAA FBS record sack season with 27 and what is his career record sack with 52 sack career. He was also chosen as the All-American unanimously at the end of the 1988 season, a season that culminated in a 29-28 victory against the Crimson Tide Army in the 1988 Sun Bowl. In 2000, Thomas was named the Sun Bowl Legend. He was awarded the Sington Soaring Spirit Award by the Lakeshore Foundation. The annual award is named for Alabama University football legend Fred Sington. Thomas was elected at the High Level Football Hall of Fame in 2014.
Professional career
Thomas was elected in the first round of the 1989 NFL Draft, fourth overall, and signed by the Chiefs. He will stay with the Chiefs for his entire career.
Year rookie Thomas earned him the Defensive Rookie of the Year award by Pro Football Weekly/Pro Football Writers of America and United Press International AFC Rookie of the Year award. He is the first Chiefs midfielder to be elected to the Pro Bowl as a rookie since Hall of Fame player Bobby Bell.
Thomas is known for his ability to fire the quarterback and named First All-Pro Team twice, Second Team All-Pro four times, and was elected to nine Pro Bowls in his 11-year career. He numbered 126.5 sacks in his career, and at the start of the 2017 NFL season, holds a single game record of seven quarterback sacks, a feat that occurred against Seattle Dave Krieg in the 1990 Veterans Day. Ironically, it was a sack that Thomas did not get who decided the game: in the last game, Krieg dodged Thomas the explosive and threw breakthrough bait to Paul Skansi, who gave Seahawks a 17-16 victory. The next player who almost broke this record was Thomas himself, recording six sacks against the Oakland Raiders in the regular season opener in 1998.
He is one of 32 NFL players to reach 100 or more sacks, and occupies the Chiefs all time leader position with 126.5. Thomas is also the seventh tackler of all time in Chiefs history with 642 career tackles. During his career, he recorded 1 interception and restored 19 mistakes, returning him for 161 yards and 4 touchdowns. Thomas established Chief career records for sacks, safeties, failed recovery, and forced him to grope.
In 2009, Thomas was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his fifth year of eligibility.
Statistics
Death
On January 23, 2000, Thomas' 1999 Chevrolet Suburban went to Interstate 435 when he and two passengers were driving to Kansas City International Airport during a snowstorm for a flight to St. Louis. Louis to watch the NFC Championship game. The police report showed that Thomas, who was driving, was driving at about 100 m.p.h. although snow and ice quickly accumulate on the highway. Thomas continued to weave irregularly through traffic as he caused the accident. Thomas and one of the passengers were not wearing seatbelts and both were thrown from the car; passenger died instantly. The second passenger, who was wearing his seat belt, walked away from the scene unharmed. Thomas was left paralyzed from the chest down. In early February, Thomas was hospitalized at Jackson Jackson Hospital in Miami. The morning of February 8, 2000, when she was transferred from hospital bed to wheelchair on her way to therapy, Thomas told her mother that she was not feeling well. His eyes then rolled back, recalls Frank Eismont, an orthopedic surgeon at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Eismont said Thomas got into cardiorespiratory arrest and died of pulmonary embolism, a large blood clot that developed in his legs and went to his lungs. Months later, Thomas's family sued General Motors for $ 73 million for damages stemming from Thomas's accident. In 2004, a jury decided that the family was not entitled to any money.
Legacy
In 1990, Thomas founded the Derrick Thomas Third and the Long Foundation. The foundation's mission is to "eradicate illiteracy" and change the lives of 9 to 13 year old urban children who face challenging and life-threatening situations in Kansas City.
On January 31, 2009, Thomas was named among six players chosen to be induced into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. She was officially awarded posthumously in Canton, Ohio on August 8, 2009, after four years as a finalist in the Hall of Fame election. The Chiefs announced on June 23, 2009 that they will retire # 58 to honor Thomas, and the retirement ceremony took place on December 6, 2009 when the Chiefs played the Denver Broncos.
The Derrick Thomas Academy, the charter school in Kansas City, Missouri, opened in September 2002. It serves nearly 1,000 children from kindergarten to eighth grade until closed in 2013.
The Chiefs named their players as the year award in the honor of Thomas.
Source
External links
- Derrick Thomas at Pro Football Hall of Fame
- Derrick Thomas at the University Football Hall of Fame
- Career and player information statistics from NFL.com Ã, Â · ESPNÃ, Ã, Â · Pro-Football-References
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