Third and Long Continues as a Legacy to Derrick Thomas
Aug. 4, 2009
Derrick Thomas and Neil Smith came up with the name in the Chiefs’ film room.
Thomas, in his second year with the Chiefs, was brainstorming for what he would call the foundation he was creating that would encourage youngsters to read.
Smith, watching a human highlight film of Thomas running past blockers and sacking quarterbacks, had a question.
“Derrick, what down do you think you’re at your best?” Smith asked.
“Every down,” Thomas replied.
“No, when you can really turn it loose and really let it go, what down is it?”
Thomas answered: “Third down … when it’s third and long …”
And with that, in 1990, he created the Derrick Thomas Third and Long Foundation dedicated to benefiting children living in disadvantaged situations.
Remarkably, nine years after Thomas’ death from injuries received in an auto accident, the foundation continues and is still serving children at two middle schools in the Kansas City and Hickman Mills school districts as well as the Derrick Thomas Academy, a charter school specializing in educating inner-city youngsters — and the only school in the country named for an NFL player.
More than 1,000 children have enhanced their reading and writing skills through the Third and Long program, and 130 students have gone on to college.
And eight children — four from Third and Long and four from the Derrick Thomas Academy — will be in attendance when Thomas is inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday night in Canton, Ohio.
Those eight children were selected based on essays they wrote about Thomas, though their only knowledge of him is through the photographs, memorabilia and newspaper clippings on the walls at their schools.
“That’s why I’m here,” said Smith, Thomas’ teammate during 1989-96. “I’m here to tell them, ‘You might not know Derrick Thomas the man, you may just know the name and have just seen footage of him as a player, but let me tell you some stories.
“Let me tell you he was a true humanitarian to our city and how loyal he was to his foundation. When times were rough and he didn’t have the money, it came directly out of his pocket to keep the foundation going.”
Third and Long was the first foundation established by a Chiefs player, and during the last two decades, Kansas City players have founded approximately 60 different foundations.
Thomas recognized the importance of education after growing up in the projects of south Miami, where he was dispatched to a state-run, last-ditch program for troubled youths.
“Derrick always felt if you could read, you could accomplish anything,” said former Chiefs president/general manager Carl Peterson, who drafted Thomas in 1989 and convinced him of the importance of community involvement.
“When we started getting him out in the community, he found something he wanted to do … start a foundation for underprivileged kids in the inner city and enhancing their ability to read.”
The program originally consisted mostly of Thomas and some of his teammates meeting with children at the downtown public library before shifting to the four schools — Central Middle and Northeast Middle in Kansas City and Ervin Middle School and Smith-Hale in the Hickman Mills district.
Now, it’s an after-school program of 58 children — Thomas’ uniform number — who meet with two tutors at each school for help in several academic areas, go on field trips, attend cultural events such as the Alvin Ailey dancers and attend an annual Chiefs game.
Third and Long, which has just one paid staff member, operates on a $50,000-a-year budget, and after Thomas’ death in February 2000, the foundation was in jeopardy.
The NFL gave the foundation a $25,000 grant, but after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the league redirected some of its charitable projects and told Betty Brown, the longtime volunteer president of Third and Long, that it would no longer support foundations of deceased players, even though the foundation was ongoing.
Still, the board of directors wanted to keep Third and Long going in Thomas’ memory and continue to conduct fund-raisers and solicit corporate support. Toward the end of offensive tackle Willie Roaf’s career with the Chiefs, he paid for the tickets for the Third and Long students to attend an annual Chiefs game, and after he retired, the teams’ rookies picked up the tab. This year Metcalf Bank bought tickets not only for Third and Long students but also those at the Derrick Thomas Academy.
The Derrick Thomas Academy, formed in 2002, was another way to continue Thomas’ legacy. The academy is publicly funded, but because it functions outside of school district management, it has freedom to try different curriculums and programs.
“Derrick’s dream was to have the Third and Long Foundation in all 32 cities,” Brown said, whose office is on the academy’s third floor. “With him not being here, it would be hard for us to get a player who had the same passion. This is one way to keep his dream alive. We have 900 kids in this school, we have two new principals, and they know the passion, they know the stories, they knew of Derrick, and they have the same feelings as he did … we want the kids to be successful.”
Because Thomas has been out of the spotlight for nearly a decade, his election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame has been a boost to Third and Long.
“It gives us a little more of a platform,” Brown said. “People get a chance to know we’re still here. For the first five years (after Thomas’ death), it started to slide. Folks didn’t know. We got a boost with Neil coming aboard. And the Hunt family has been supportive. I realize there are other players who have different organizations, and the Chiefs have to support those individuals, but when you look at it, for a person who is not here anymore, and their foundation is still going, is almost unheard of.”
Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt believes it is important that the Chiefs continue to help underwrite Third and Long, even though Thomas has passed away and so many current players have foundations.
“It’s a great way for us to honor Derrick’s legacy, both with the Chiefs and as an important part of the Kansas City community,” Hunt said. “You have to understand the special player Derrick was, the special part of the Kansas City community he was, and the fact it was the first foundation by one of our players makes a lot of sense for us to continue to honor his legacy.”
When Smith came aboard as chairman earlier this year, the name of the foundation was changed to the Derrick Thomas/Neil Smith Third and Long Foundation.
“When I was asked to step in and be part of it,” Smith said, “I couldn’t say no, because what it meant to Derrick and how Derrick would not want this to fail. He did this until his death. That’s why it is so important we don’t lose this.”
from Kansas City.com
