Derrick Thomas

Derrick Thomas, 33, of Independence, Missouri, a nine-time National Football League Pro Bowl Linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs, passed away at Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miami, Florida on Tuesday, February 8, 2000, from injuries suffered in an automobile accident.

Derrick was born in Miami on January 1, 1967, to Edith Morgan and Robert Thomas. On December 17, 1972, when Derrick was 5 years old, his father, a U.S. Air Force pilot in Vietnam, flew a mission from which he never returned. Robert Thomas was declared legally dead in 1980.

Derrick won all-league honors in football at South Miami High School, playing tight end and running back before settling in as a linebacker. His talents earned him a scholarship to the University of Alabama, where he was a unanimous First-Team All-America selection, won the Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker, and finished 10th in Heisman Trophy voting as a senior. In 1989, the Kansas City Chiefs selected Derrick in the first round of the NFL draft, the team's first-ever first-round selection of a linebacker.

Derrick excelled in the pro ranks as a 6-foot, 255-pound linebacker, becoming one of the most dominant defensive players in the game. He played his entire 11-year career for the Chiefs. With one of the quickest first moves of any defender in the league, Derrick became known for his “sack and strip” move, in which he attacked from a quarterback's blind side and hacked at his arm to knock the ball loose. He was voted by his peers 9 straight years to play in the Pro Bowl in Hawaii, professional football’s year-end all-star game. He set the Kansas City franchise record with 126.5 career quarterback sacks, a feat that ranks ninth in NFL history. In 1990, he broke the single-game sack record when he took down Seattle Seahawks quarterback Dave Kreig seven times. That game was the same week as Veterans Day, and Derrick dedicated his performance to his father.

Derrick was a favorite of coaches, teammates, and Kansas City fans. His No. 58 jersey was the biggest seller in Kansas City. He worked actively with charities and won the NFL Man of the Year award in 1993 and the Byron White Humanitarian Award in 1995.

In 1990, Derrick established the Third and Long Foundation, an inner-city program in Kansas City to help fight illiteracy. The program joins at-risk youth with professional sports figures who provide them with positive mentoring. As part of the program, Derrick read to children at local libraries on the Saturdays before home games.

Derrick participated in and coordinated numerous community activities, food drives, and charity benefits. In 1997 and 1998, he raised more than $60,000 to pay all outstanding library fines in the Kansas City area, allowing children with fines to regain their library privileges. In 1990, with the assistance of the Kansas City Public Library, Derrick established the Reading Club, an enrichment program for Kansas City youth, aged 9 to 13, which encourages them to improve their reading skills.

Between 1992 and 1998, he hosted the Derrick Thomas Weekend and Golf Classic, which brought entertainers and sports figures together for a weekend of charity fundraising. Derrick was an avid supporter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, especially veterans of the Vietnam War. On May 31, 1993, he joined President Bill Clinton as a keynote speaker at a memorial service at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., and urged each veteran to adopt a child in his or her neighborhood because they may be a part of a legacy that someone left behind.

He is survived by his mother, Edith Morgan; a half-brother, Gregory Morgan; and his seven children: Burgandie and Derrick Jr. of Miami; Derrion, Derrius and Robert of Kansas City; Micayla of Kearney; and Alexa of Lawrence, Kansas.

Legacy.com would like to thank Ingram's magazine for helping create this Legacy Memorial.