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Derrick Thomas and the Tragedy That Took Too Soon a Legend’s Life
Derrick Thomas was towards the conclusion of his football career, but he was still at his peak. Thomas, a 6-foot-3, 243-pound physical specimen, had just ended his 11th season as a Kansas City Chiefs All-Pro linebacker.
He was a joy to be around both on and off the field. Everything changed on January 23, 2000.
On the football field, Derrick Thomas was a beast
Derrick Thomas was a future NFL standout who was drafted early in the 1989 NFL draft.
The Kansas City Chiefs selected Thomas, a linebacker from Alabama, with the fourth choice, immediately after the Detroit Lions selected Barry Sanders in the third round.
Thomas was named to the Pro Bowl in his first year with the Chiefs and again the following eight years.
Thomas had 10 sacks and three forced fumbles in his debut season.
He won the Associated Press Defensive Rookie of the Year award.
He more than doubled his sack total in his second season, leading the NFL with 20.
On November 11, 1990, Thomas set an NFL record with seven sacks against Dave Kreig and the Seattle Seahawks.
Thomas had six more in a single game in 1998.
In his second season, Thomas had six forced fumbles and was selected First-Team All-Pro.
The next season, Thomas was awarded First-Team All-Pro after recording 13.5 sacks.
In 2009, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Thomas concluded his career with 126.5 sacks despite being quite speedy for his size.
In an automobile accident, Thomas became paraplegic
Thomas and two companions were on their way to Kansas City International Airport on January 23, 2000, to catch a flight to St.
Louis to attend the NFC Championship Game between the St. Louis Rams and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The roads were slick, and around 1:30 p.m., Thomas’ 1999 Chevrolet Suburban flipped over.
The accident killed his close buddy Michael Tellis and hospitalized the other passenger.
Thomas’ spinal column was shattered at both the C-5 and thoracic vertebrae levels.
The revelation startled both players and coaches.
“It’s terrible to me,” Gunther Cunningham, then-coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, stated.
“Ignore the football part of it.
He has contributed significantly to both the city and the organization.
It’s a difficult situation to deal with.”
Thomas has numerous fractures in his cervical (neck) and thoracic (chest) spines, according to Dr. Barth Green of the Miami Project.
Green stated that Thomas had no movement or control of movement below the level of his chest.
“Derrick’s injuries are predominantly to the spinal column,” Chiefs team doctor Dr. Jon Browne said.
“He does have some neurological damage, which is evolving. He will need substantial rehabilitation.”
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Thomas’ memory lives on even after his untimely death
Thomas was being treated at Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital during his rehabilitation.
He died abruptly at the hospital on February 8, 2000.
Thomas, 33, was being transferred from his bed at Jackson Memorial Hospital to a wheelchair for a rehabilitation session when he collapsed and could not be revived, according to hospital officials.
“I thought of him as one of the nicest individuals I’d ever met,” said Gunther Cunningham, then-coach of the Kansas City Chiefs.
“The smile is one I’ll never forget.” That is something I will never forget. I’m sure Derrick will loom over this stadium forever… He’d go across the field with a smile on his face after every game, not because the Chiefs had won, but because that’s who he was.
That’s how I’ll remember him forever.”
Thomas is remembered lovingly by family and friends even twenty years after his death.
“As much as he was Derrick Thomas the football player, I mean Derrick Thomas the father was, you know, who I remember him as,” Derrion Thomas, Thomas’ son, said.
“It was essential for me to be among the individuals that have been a part of my life throughout this entire thing and just kind of honor what he meant to Kansas City.”
“Derrick Thomas was a great hero,” said Missouri state senator and former Chiefs quarterback Bill Kenney.
