“He was a nightmare for people who had to prepare for him because he had unique skills that gave him an unfair advantage for anyone that tried to block him.”
– Marty Schottenheimer
Derrick Thomas was a man that could be described in many ways. He was a restless soul that lived a fast lifestyle and was in constant motion, occasionally making him reckless. But on the football field, he was the man with the quickest step in the National Football League.
Derrick Thomas grew up in the Miami area in southern Florida. In his adolescence, he was a troubled child caught stealing mopeds as he would often take them apart and sell the parts. Instead of throwing the book at him, Judge William Gladstone looked for an alternative to set Thomas on a better track for success. At age 14, he was sent to the Dade Marine Institute, where he had access to a full high school curriculum. The young Thomas flourished, learning goal setting and discipline. Thomas did so well that he finished the program ahead of schedule and was allowed to re-enroll at South Miami High School for his Junior year. He was also allowed to return to the school’s football team, where he played tight end and running back for the SMHS Cobras. Upon entering his Senior year, Thomas switched to defense and earned a football scholarship to the University of Alabama.
Thomas played defensive end in head coach Bill Curry’s defense and was an All-American by his Senior season with the Crimson Tide, registering 27 sacks in 1988.
As an NFL prospect, Thomas had all the intangibles: Leverage, speed, power, and a high motor that made for an unfair advantage for anyone assigned to block him. In the 1989 NFL Draft, the Kansas City Chiefs selected Thomas with the fourth overall pick.
Thomas was a wrecking force almost immediately for Kansas City. As a rookie, he accounted for ten sacks, 75 tackles, and three forced fumbles – earning Defensive Rookie of the Year honors and making the first of nine consecutive Pro Bowls. In 1990, he was sensational, amassing 63 tackles, six forced fumbles, and 20 sacks. The ’90 season was a year that Thomas played the finest game of his entire career; On November 11, 1990, the Chiefs were hosting the Seattle Seahawks, a game in which Thomas registered seven sacks on Seattle quarterback Dave Krieg, setting an NFL single-game record that still stands today. Following the ’90 season, Thomas was named a First-Team All-Pro and earned Defensive Player of the Year honors.
He finished with a double-digit sack total in the following two seasons in ’91 and ’92, earning two more First-Team All-Pro awards and DPOY honors. In 1993, Thomas finished the regular season with eight sacks before going on his first deep run in the postseason, with Super-Star Joe Montana leading the charge at quarterback. Thomas got two sacks in the ’93 playoffs before Montana suffered a concussion just before halftime of the AFC Championship game in Buffalo and was benched for the entire second half. To no one’s surprise, Kansas City’s run at the Super Bowl was dashed by way of the 34-13 defeat by the reigning AFC Champion Bills.
At the end of the ’93 campaign, Thomas earned the Walter Peyton Man of the Year award for his Third and Long Foundation. It selected 58 kids around the Kansas City area each year and enrolled them into a weekly literacy program. Every Saturday before home games, Thomas also met his Third and Long kids at local Kansas City libraries and would read to them.
From 1994 to 1999, Thomas registered over 270 tackles and 60.5 sacks, but his teams had minimal success in the postseason despite winning 60 games in the regular season. In the final game of the 1999 season, the Chiefs were on the verge of winning the AFC West and securing a spot in the playoffs. All they had to do was defeat the Oakland Raiders. Thomas finished the game with six tackles and no sacks but committed a running-into-the-kicker foul that led to a Raiders touchdown. As a result of the 41-38 overtime loss, the Chiefs missed the playoffs. However, the St.Louis Rams were also playing for a right to appear in Super Bowl 34, and Thomas made plans to see the game.
On the day of the game, a fast-moving winter storm blanketed the region with a thick layer of snow, causing hazardous road conditions. Eleven people died that day due to traffic accidents in Kansas City. On the 435, Thomas was speeding when his car rolled off the highway several times. He was the only one in the car who wasn’t wearing his seatbelt and was paralyzed from the chest down due to a severed spine due to the crash and was taken to a Kansas City hospital. Once he was stabilized, Thomas was flown to a hospital in Miami that specialized in spinal injuries.
Three weeks later, while at the Miami hospital, Thomas died on February 8, 2000, from a pulmonary embolism – a blood clot that developed in his legs and traveled to his lungs. He was 34 years old when he passed away.
The loss was felt in Kansas City, where the Chiefs held an open casket viewing at Arrowhead Stadium for the public to pay their respects to one of the most incredible humans ever to put on a Chiefs’ uniform.
In 2009, Thomas was represented by his son, Darian Thomas, during the Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Canton.
Derrick Thomas left behind a career that registered 641 tackles, 41 forced fumbles, and 126.5 sacks. The man with the quickest step in the NFL was also a reckless, restless soul that left this planet far too early.
RIP DT58
