Derrick Thomas, NFL linebacker, 33

["Deathwatch Central" <cdw@slick.org>]

http://cnnsi.com/football/nfl/news/2000/02/08/thomas_death_ap/

Chiefs' Thomas dead at 33

Apparent heart attack claims 9-time Pro Bowl star

Posted: Tuesday February 08, 2000 04:12 PM

MIAMI (AP) -- NFL star Derrick Thomas died Tuesday in a hospital where he
was being treated for injuries from a car crash that left him paralyzed from
the chest down.

The Kansas City Chiefs said he died of a heart attack. Jackson Memorial
Hospital called it "cardio-respiratory arrest," and doctors were expected to
elaborate later in the day.

Team president Carl Peterson said he was with the 33-year-old linebacker
Monday. "He was upbeat, he was positive, he was Derrick," a tearful
Peterson, wearing a button with Thomas' No. 58, said from Arrowhead Stadium
in Kansas City.

"He was in a wheelchair. ... I said 'Son, you're mobile.' He said, 'Father,
I am. I've got wheels.'"

Thomas was injured Jan. 23 when the speeding car he was driving flipped on
an icy road. A friend was killed in the crash.

Thomas, a nine-time Pro Bowl player and one of the game's most feared pass
rushers, had been heading to the Kansas City airport with two companions to
fly to St. Louis for the NFC title game.

Thomas was one of the most popular athletes in Kansas City, and Peterson
called the death a "devastating tragedy."

"Derrick Thomas leaves a tremendously positive legacy that will permanently
enrich everyone whose life he touched," NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue
said.

Flags were lowered to half staff at Arrowhead Stadium. The Missouri
Legislature paused for a moment of silence. Thomas' death was announced by
Bill Kenney, a state senator and former Chiefs quarterback.

"Derrick Thomas was a true hero," said Kenney, who urged lawmakers to
support a bill for spinal cord research in Missouri.

Thomas broke his spine and neck in the crash and was flown to Miami, his
hometown, for surgery and rehabilitation.

Doctors decompressed his spinal cord and stabilized the spinal column with
screws, rods and hooks and implant bone grafts from Thomas' hip.

The hospital is the home of the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, the world's
largest spinal cord injury research center, and its surgeons have operated
on race car driver Emerson Fittipaldi and other athletes.

Thomas and passenger Michael Tellis, 49, of Kansas City, Kan., were not
wearing seat belts and were thrown from the car, police said. Tellis was
killed instantly and a third passenger who was wearing his seat belt was
treated and released.

"Our entire family has lost our loved one, so we greatly sympathize with
Derrick Thomas's upon his passing," Tellis' family said Tuesday.

A clearly shaken Chiefs coach Gunther Cunningham recalled telephoning Thomas
from the Pro Bowl, after seeing several players and fans honoring the
linebacker by wearing his number.

"Derrick said, 'Coach, be strong.' He never told me how strong I needed to
be," Cunningham said.

The coach said that after a game, Thomas would always walk across the field
"with a smile on his face -- not because the Chiefs won, but because that's
the way he was. And that's the way I'll always remember him."

Thomas holds the NFL one-game record of seven sacks and ranks ninth on the
career list. His seven sacks against Seattle in 1990 came on Veterans Day.
He dedicated his effort to his father, an Air Force pilot killed in Vietnam
in Operation Linebacker II.

"He had so much love for the game, for his teammates and for our town. ... A
light has gone out," Peterson said.

NFL union leader Gene Upshaw called Thomas a "great humanitarian."

"We will not only miss his Sunday afternoon blitzes ... but his commitment
to the sport and his community."

Mike McCown, an employee at a sporting goods store in Kansas City's Crown
Center, said many customers were asking about Thomas. Jerseys of the
linebacker were selling for $150.

"He was definitely a crowd pleaser," McCown said. "Not only on the field but
off."

All-Time Sack Leaders
Player  Sacks
Reggie White  192.5
Bruce Smith  171
Kevin Greene  160
Chris Doleman  151
Richard Dent  137.5
Lawrence Taylor  132.5
Leslie O'Neal  132.5
Rickey Jackson  128
Derrick Thomas   126.5
Clyde Simmons  114

Derrick Thomas'
Team Records
Record  Number
Sacks, career  126.5
Sacks, season  20 (1990)
Sacks, game  7*
Fumble recoveries  19
Safeties  3
Pro Bowls  9
Playoff appearances  10
*NFL Record -- Nov. 11, 1990 vs. Seattle


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