 Thomas with the Kansas City Chiefs | |||||||||||||||||
| No. 58 | |||||||||||||||||
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| Position: | Linebacker | ||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
| Born: | (1967-01-01)January 1, 1967 Miami, Florida, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||
| Died: | February 8, 2000(2000-02-08) (aged 33) Miami, Florida, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 255 lb (116 kg) | ||||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||||
| High school: | South Miami (Miami, Florida) | ||||||||||||||||
| College: | Alabama (1985–1988) | ||||||||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1989: 1st round, 4th pick | ||||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||||
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Derrick Vincent Thomas (January 1, 1967 – February 8, 2000), nicknamed "D. T.", was an American professionalfootballlinebacker for theKansas City Chiefs of theNational Football League (NFL). Considered one of the greatestpass rushers of all time,[1] he played 11 seasons with the Chiefs until his death in 2000. Thomas playedcollege football for theAlabama Crimson Tide, where he won theButkus Award, and was selected fourth overall by Kansas City in the1989 NFL draft. During his career, he received ninePro Bowl and two first-teamAll-Pro selections, and set the single-game sacks record.
After the Chiefs' 1999 season, Thomas was renderedparaplegic by a car crash and died two weeks later from apulmonary embolism. He was posthumously inducted to thePro Football Hall of Fame in 2009 and theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 2014.
Born inMiami, Florida, Thomas was raised by his mother Edith Morgan.[2] His father,Air ForceCaptain andB-52 pilot Robert James Thomas, died duringa mission in theVietnam War when Derrick was five years old.[3] Thomas played his high school football atSouth Miami Senior High School.
AlongsideCornelius Bennett and laterKeith McCants atAlabama, Thomas spearheaded one of the best defensive lines in college football and smashed many Crimson Tide defensive records, including sacks in a single season. He was awarded theButkus Award in 1988. He was also selected as a consensusAll-American at the conclusion of the 1988 season, a season which culminated in the Crimson Tide's thrilling 29–28 victory over Army in the1988 Sun Bowl. In 2000, Thomas was named a Sun Bowl Legend.[4] He was awarded the Sington Soaring Spirit Award by the Lakeshore Foundation. This annual award is named for University of Alabama football legendFred Sington. Thomas was posthumously inducted to theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 2014.[5]
| Height | Weight | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft2+1⁄2 in (1.89 m) | 234 lb (106 kg) | 4.58 s | 1.55 s | 2.68 s |
Thomas was selected fourth overall in the first round of the1989 NFL draft by theKansas City Chiefs.[6] He was the first selection made by new head coachMarty Schottenheimer.[7][8]
Thomas would record his first career sack in the Chiefs week 2 game against theLos Angeles Raiders. That game was also his first multi-sack game as he finished with 2.5 sacks. He would record another 7.5 sacks that season finishing with 10 his rookie year. He was namedAP Defensive Rookie of the Year. He was also named to the Pro Bowl.
In his second year, Thomas recorded at least a half of a sack in each of the Chiefs first 5 games. In the Chiefs week 10 game against theSeattle Seahawks, he brokeFred Dean's 7-year-old record of sacks in a single game with 7 sacks. The quarterback he sacked in that game,Dave Krieg, would become his teammate 2 seasons later. However, on the game's final play, Thomas had a clear shot for an eighth sack, but missed it and the Seahawks would throw a game winning touchdown after the missed sack. He would later call that play the one play in his career he wished he could have a second chance at.[9] He would finish the season with what would prove to be a career high 20 sacks, setting a franchise record that stood until it was broken byJustin Houston in 2014. He finished 2nd in defensive player of the year voting and was named 1st teamAll-Pro.
The following season, he would record his first career touchdown on a 23-yard fumble return for a touchdown in the Chiefs week 11 game against theLos Angeles Rams.
Thomas would record double digits sacks for each of the first four seasons in his career. In total, 7 of his 11 seasons in the NFL he recorded double digit sack totals.
In theChiefs 1999 season, Thomas recorded a career low for sacks with 7. He would also record his first career interception in the Chiefs week 8 win over theSan Diego Chargers. He would record the final sack of his career in the Chiefs week 15 against thePittsburgh Steelers. In what would be the final game of his career, as he would die 37 days later, the Chiefs played their rival theOakland Raiders. With a victory in the game, the Chiefs would qualify for the playoffs. The Chiefs lost in overtime 41–38. He didn't manage to record a sack on his former teammateRich Gannon, but he did record 6 total tackles.
Thomas was named first-team All-Pro two times and was named to the Pro Bowl nine times.[10] He is 18th all-time insacks and at the time of his death in 2000, he was 9th all-time with 126.5. He remains the Chiefs' all-time leader in sacks, safeties, forced fumbles, and fumble recoveries.[11][12] During his career, he recorded 1 interception and recovered 19 fumbles, returning them for 161 yards and 4 touchdowns. Thomas said in interviews his favorite quarterback to sack wasDenver Broncos quarterbackJohn Elway, whom he sacked 26 times. The sack total over Elway is most against any quarterback in Thomas' career and the most any individual player sacked Elway.[13] He was posthumously inducted into theChiefs Hall of Fame in 2000, with the Chiefs breaking the tradition of waiting four years after the end of the player's career. In 2009, he was posthumously inducted into thePro Football Hall of Fame.[14] Later that same year, the Chiefs retired the number 58 in honor of him. Following his death until it was officially retired, the Chiefs did not reissue the number.[15] The Chiefs also named theirplayer of the year award in Thomas' honor, an award he won twice himself prior to the award being named in his honor. He is the onlyNFL player to die during their career that was later inducted to the Hall of Fame.
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Led the league | |
| Bold | Career high |
| Year | Team | Games | Tackles | Fumbles | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Cmb | Solo | Ast | Sck | Sfty | FF | FR | Yds | TD | Blk | ||
| 1989 | KC | 16 | 16 | 75 | 56 | 19 | 10.0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1990 | KC | 15 | 15 | 63 | 47 | 16 | 20.0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 14 | 0 | 0 |
| 1991 | KC | 16 | 15 | 79 | 60 | 19 | 13.5 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 23 | 1 | 0 |
| 1992 | KC | 16 | 16 | 67 | 54 | 13 | 14.5 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 1993 | KC | 16 | 15 | 43 | 32 | 11 | 8.0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 86 | 1 | 0 |
| 1994 | KC | 16 | 15 | 71 | 67 | 4 | 11.0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| 1995 | KC | 15 | 15 | 53 | 48 | 5 | 8.0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1996 | KC | 16 | 14 | 55 | 49 | 6 | 13.0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 1997 | KC | 12 | 10 | 34 | 30 | 4 | 9.5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1998 | KC | 15 | 10 | 42 | 35 | 7 | 12.0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 27 | 1 | 0 |
| 1999 | KC | 16 | 16 | 60 | 54 | 6 | 7.0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Career | 169 | 157 | 642 | 532 | 110 | 126.5 | 3 | 41 | 19 | 161 | 4 | 1 | |
On January 23, 2000, Thomas's SUV went offInterstate 435 inClay County as he and two passengers were driving toKansas City International Airport during asnowstorm for a flight toSt. Louis to see theNFC Championship Game between theSt. Louis Rams and theTampa Bay Buccaneers. Police reports indicated that Thomas, who was driving, was speeding at approximately 70 mph even though snow and ice were rapidly accumulating on the roadway.[16] Thomas and one of the passengers were not wearing seat belts and both were thrown from the car; the passenger, Michael Tellis, was killed instantly. The second passenger, who was wearing his safety belt, walked away from the scene uninjured. Thomas was left paralyzed from the chest down. By early February, Thomas was being treated at Miami'sJackson Memorial Hospital. The morning of February 8, 2000, while being transferred from his hospital bed to a wheelchair on his way to therapy, Thomas told his mother he was not feeling well. His eyes then rolled back, recalled Frank Eismont, an orthopedic surgeon at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Eismont said Thomas went into cardiorespiratory arrest and died as a result of apulmonary embolism, a massive blood clot that developed in his legs and traveled to hislungs.[17] Months later, Thomas's family suedGeneral Motors for $73 million in damages stemming from the accident. In 2004, a jury ruled that the family was not entitled to any money.[18][19]
In 1990, Thomas founded the Derrick Thomas Third and Long Foundation. The foundation's mission is to "sack illiteracy" and change the lives of 9- to 13-year-old urban children facing challenging and life-threatening situations in the Kansas City area.[citation needed]
TheDerrick Thomas Academy, acharter school inKansas City, Missouri, opened in September 2001. It served nearly 1,000 children from kindergarten through eighth grade until it closed in 2013.[20]