If He Survived, What Would DT Do?
Feb. 8, 2005
To this day, Carl Peterson displays a No. 58 button on the visor inside his car.
“It's a reminder,” Peterson says, “for me to buckle up. And I've never forgotten.”
As we all know, that is one of the legacies of Derrick Thomas' interrupted life, perhaps the most significant one. The message of safety.
The simple act of buckling up that fateful day in January five years ago almost surely would have spared Thomas' life.
As it was, two weeks after Thomas' Chevrolet Suburban flipped on an icy highway, causing fractured vertebrae in his neck and back, he was making plans for his future. As he lay in a Miami hospital, Thomas talked to friends about walking again, about beating the partial paralysis below his chest, about the next stage in his life.
Thomas was not about to spend the rest of his life on the sidelines.
Then, suddenly, he was gone. A blood clot developed in one of his legs, navigated its way upward and eventually led to cardiorespiratory arrest. He was dead in minutes, before medical personnel could do a thing.
That was five years ago today.
“It didn't seem possible because we had just spoken the night before,” Peterson said. “Derrick was in such a better mood, very optimistic about his life ahead. I remember flying back to Kansas City the night before with (Chiefs doctor) Jon Browne, and we were truly amazed at Derrick's spirit and determination.
“The next morning, Derrick had passed. I didn't believe it.”
Memories of Thomas' determination to recover from his injuries and his eagerness to plot the next course in his life beg one question: If Thomas had survived his ordeal, what exactly would he be doing today?
Broadcasting? Scouting? Inspirational speaking?
“He would have been active in some capacity,” Peterson said. “Anyone who knew Derrick knew that. Derrick was always thinking, always planning.”
The most logical path for Thomas would have been somewhere under Peterson's wing.
“I always told Derrick that he would be a Chief for life,” Peterson said. “That was even before the accident. And if he had survived, he could very well have been working for the Chiefs.
“He used to talk about being an assistant general manager for me one day. I told him that if I'm in football, he's going to be in football, too.”
Whether Thomas would have gone the broadcasting route is open to some debate.
KCFX reporter Bob Gretz never knew Thomas to talk openly about a career in the field.
“Those teams in the 1990s had a lot of guys on radio or TV,” Gretz said. “Derrick never gravitated toward that, so I don't know. I'm not saying he wouldn't have, but it wasn't something I heard him discuss that much.”
Thomas certainly had the personality for it.
“I think he could have been a natural,” said former umpire Steve Palermo, who suffered a similar spinal injury and, after enduring agonizing rehabilitation, not only walked again but became an active member of the baseball community in Kansas City and nationally.
“Derrick was bright, he was articulate, he was personable and he was smart. He had all the qualities you'd want in a broadcast booth. If that's the path he'd have chosen, I think he would have gotten very good at it.”
Peterson agreed.
“In a very short time on this earth, Derrick made a lot of friends and contacts,” Peterson said. “Broadcasting could have wound up being the direction for him.
“I also think he could have gone into scouting. He understood the game so well, what it takes to succeed. He could have been great at that part. There's no question that charity work would have been a big part of his life. He was deeply involved in philanthropy.”
No matter what direction Thomas would have chosen, he would have been in for some initial hard times and a painfully long recovery.
Thomas' diagnosis did not include a severed spinal cord, and there were reports that he was beginning to feel sensation in his toes before his death.
“It's called an ‘incomplete,' as in not a complete sever,” Palermo said. “That means there would have been hope that he could have walked again. Would he have walked again? I think he could have.
“He absolutely knew how hard it was going to be. I told him there was going to be some incredibly tough times ahead. There was going to be a lot of tears, a lot of pain. But in the end, there was going to be more smiles.”
Palermo knew he was going to play a major role in Thomas' recovery.
“I hope I could have been an inspiration,” Palermo said. “The day after the accident, we talked a great deal. It was kind of good cop, bad cop. People kept telling him everything was going to be all right, and I came in to tell him it was going to be rough, very rough.
“It was tough love, you could say. But I wanted him to get mentally prepared.”
Even if, like Palermo, Thomas had learned to walk again, that would have been only half the battle, Palermo said.
“If you want to carry on with an active lifestyle, you get tired more easily than other people,” Palermo said. “There are constant challenges. It doesn't do any good to complain or feel sorry for yourself.
“But look around and imagine how hard it can be for disabled people to maneuver. Now, we've come a long way with the American Disabilities Act. That opened a lot of doors. But we're not there yet.
“So if Derrick had wanted to be in broadcasting or scouting and be around the stadium a lot, it would have taken all his strength. You can trust me on that one.”
The consensus is, though, that Derrick Thomas would have succeeded. He would have willed it.
“There was one thing I learned about Derrick and his life,” Peterson said. “You could not defeat him.”
from Kansas City.com
