Thomas Elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Feb. 1, 2009
Each time the Super Bowl came to Florida during the past five years, Edith Morgan made the trip in hopes that her son, former Chiefs linebacker Derrick Thomas, would be voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Her heart kept getting broken.
She was disappointed in 2005 in Jacksonville when Thomas was not elected in his first year of eligibility. She was devastated when Thomas fell short of election two years ago in his native Miami, where he was buried after he died in February 2000 from injuries suffered in an automobile accident on a snowy Kansas City highway.
Finally, on Saturday afternoon at the Tampa Convention Center, the wait was over.
Thomas, the ferocious pass rusher and cornerstone of the Chiefs’ teams of the 1990s, was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his fifth year of eligibility.
“I was not confident … you always have that doubt,” said Morgan, who wore a black suit with red pinstripes and a red blouse for good luck. “You wait with anticipation and hoping it would happen.
“I never gave up. I was always hopeful it would happen but was never to the point to saying, ‘Yes, it will happen.’ I learned a long time ago, nothing is certain.”
Thomas, who had 126 1/2 career sacks during 1989-99, will be inducted on Aug. 8 in Canton, Ohio, along with Buffalo Bills defensive end Bruce Smith; Bills founder Ralph Wilson Jr.; Pittsburgh/Baltimore/Oakland defensive back Rod Woodson; Minnesota Vikings guard Randall McDaniel; and Dallas wide receiver Bob Hayes.
Thomas will join eight others enshrined in the Hall of Fame as members of the Chiefs — quarterback Len Dawson, defensive tackle Buck Buchanan, linebackers Bobby Bell and Willie Lanier, cornerback Emmitt Thomas and kicker Jan Stenerud as well as founder Lamar Hunt and coach Hank Stram.
“I know he’s looking down and smiling on this day because he worked diligently for this,” Morgan said of Thomas, who would have turned 42 on Jan. 1. “This was one of his dreams that one day he might get into Canton. This is something he worked so hard for this day. It was my dream because it was his dream.
“I was shouting when I heard his name.”
Thomas, the fourth overall pick of the 1989 draft out of Alabama, was the initial first-round draft pick by then-Chiefs president Carl Peterson and coach Marty Schottenheimer after they took over leadership of the club.
Thomas, the centerpiece of Schottenheimer’s defense, helped trigger the revival of the franchise, leading the Chiefs to the playoffs seven times in eight years during 1990-97 and turning Arrowhead Stadium into one of the league’s most intimidating venues for visiting teams.
“I’m elated for Derrick Thomas and the legacy of Derrick Thomas,” said Peterson, who will present Thomas at the Hall of Fame ceremonies. “He was such a special football player and a special person. What Derrick did for us in Kansas City was more than on the football field. He was a unique person, not only as a great football player, but a special person, a giving guy.
“In the time I’ve been in this business, there have been three defensive players who could change the course of a game — Lawrence Taylor, Bruce Smith and Derrick.”
Thomas helped define the art of the sack and strip of the quarterback. Thomas’ 126 1/2 sacks ranked ninth in NFL history at the time of his death. He led the NFL in sacks with 20 in 1990, the same year he set the NFL single-game record with seven sacks against Seattle. He nearly matched the record in 1998 with six sacks against Oakland, giving him two of the top four sack days in league history.
But Thomas was not merely satisfied with sacking the quarterback. He didn’t consider the job complete without stripping the ball and causing a fumble. During his career, Thomas forced 45 fumbles, recovered 19, and returned four for touchdowns.
As Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt, on hand for the announcement, put it: “Derrick forced a fumble in one out of every four games he played in his career, the quarterback being his frequent victim.”
Former Chiefs nose tackle Dan Saleaumua was the beneficiary of many of those forced fumbles.
“A majority of my fumble recoveries came from DT,” Saleaumua said. “My favorite Derrick moment was a ‘Monday Night Football’ game against Green Bay and Brett Favre. Arrowhead still had Astroturf, and Derrick came around the corner, stripped Favre, the ball comes to my feet, and I rumble and stumble 21 yards for a touchdown.
“Derrick did a lot of things in his game. You need impact players, and Derrick was a player consistently making an impact on the game. In the ’90s, Arrowhead Stadium was the finest place to play. Derrick would force those fumbles, and they hurt teams more than just a sack.”
Thomas amassed more sacks — 116 1/2 — during the 1990s than any other player. And no one appreciated his skills more than Smith, the NFL’s all-time sack leader with 200 and a contemporary of Thomas.
The Chiefs and Buffalo Bills enjoyed a fierce rivalry during the 1990s, including a Monday night game in 1991 when Thomas sacked Jim Kelly four times, forcing two fumbles in a 33-6 rout of defending AFC champion Buffalo at Arrowhead Stadium. They also met in two playoff games, including the 1993 AFC championship game in Buffalo, won by the Bills.
“Derrick Thomas was an incredible player and an incredible person,” Smith said. “As a player, he probably had the quickest takeoff of any player who has played the game. He had this ability to be able to time the ball being snapped and get that great jump-start. Playing at Arrowhead Stadium probably helped out, but it is still an art to be mastered.
“He did a number of charitable things involving children, raising money for education … it was a sad day and a great loss to all of us, the day Derrick had that car accident.”
Thomas’ mother appreciated Smith’s citing Thomas’ work in the community. She took as much pride in his ongoing Third and Long reading program for disadvantaged youngsters as his football accomplishments. When Thomas was a mischievous youth in Miami, he was sent to the Dade Marine Institute, where he learned discipline focused on athletics and academics.
On Saturdays of home games, Thomas and some teammates would read to children and encourage them to read. Thomas’ work in the community was honored when President George H.W. Bush cited him as one of the “thousand points of light” in 1992, and he was voted NFL Man of the Year in 1993.
“Derrick wanted children to be able to read, so they could go into their life,” Morgan said. “It meant a lot to him he was able to do something, to be able to make a difference in somebody’s life.
“What he could give to people was his total goal. He often said, in 20 years I want to be able to look back at some child who is a doctor, a lawyer, a state representative who would say, ‘I went through Derrick Thomas’ Third and Long program.’ ”
Edith Morgan can only wonder what more he could have accomplished in the community and on the football field had her son not died so young. The lessons learned from Thomas’ death have benefited others.
“I learned in life not to ask why,” she said. “Everything happens for a reason. After (the accident) happened, with him not having a seat belt on, him not having a will … more and more people were able to live because of his death.
“I lost a son, but we (saved) more people because of him. People say, ‘Hey, now I wear a seat belt because of Derrick.’ And a lot of NFL moms, with him not having a will … they looked at their sons, and they didn’t have them either. At that point, more and more people learned to take care of their business.”
Asked what the loquacious Thomas might be doing now had he lived and finished his career with the Chiefs, Morgan smiled.
“He probably would be on ESPN,” she said.
from Kansas City.com
