Derrick Thomas, the Kansas City Chiefs' Pro Bowl linebacker known for his ferocious play on the field and his charity work off it, died unexpectedly yesterday morning in a Miami hospital, 16 days after a car crash had left him paralyzed from the chest down.
Doctors said Thomas suffered from cardiorespiratory arrest while being transferred from his bed to a wheelchair on his way to a therapy session.
PRO FOOTBALL; Chiefs' Thomas Dies Unexpectedly During Hospital Stay
12 Years Ago from The New York Times
4 months ago
NJ Chiefs Fan
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Remember that day
Was in the dorms with a Bears fan who had just gone through Peyton passing. He was crying while he hugged me told me that he was there for me. He didn’t yet know that I was a heartless asshole.
Standing on the corner in a white Godfather hat. He drives a long black gangster Cadillac. He can steal a broads mind, man, in three or four minutes. It’s not how long you talk, brother, it’s what you put in it.
by HIV 2 Elway on Feb 8, 2012 2:58 PM CST reply actions 7 recs
Most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it
kudos for recognizing you’re an asshole.
When you mess with Daboll, you get the horns.
by Sudden on Feb 8, 2012 3:54 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
HIV just needs to "Follw the Yellowbrick Road"...theres a Wizard there who can help.
……..seriously though, I hope no one takes this the wrong way and I apologize if you do, I mean no ill to anyone.
I just think it was better he passed than live in a chair. Some people are not meant to be harnessed.
"I never went to bed with an ugly woman but I sure woke up with a few!"
/no skitzo
by Masons on Feb 8, 2012 4:28 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
Probably a fair statement if you look solely at his personal quality of life
but you gotta figure, being stuck in a wheelchair would only end his playing days. He’d have almost surely had a continued positive impact on the KC community and the league as a whole, not to mention the enormous potential for gigs as a motivational speaker. I’m sure he would also have had a chance at coaching from the booth on some level.
From a personal stance, I would have chosen quick death from sudden cardiac arrest than life as a paraplegic as well but from a big picture view, he could have done massive good for possibly millions of people had he survived the rehab into a chair.
Bask in the glory that is Kwame Harris. Poor Alex...
Go on...
We’re listening.
I love my wife, my kids, and the Chiefs. In that order. Except on game days.
I am the Master of Hyperenthetical Asiditry (you know, like this. Only more)
You can bet your last money
It’ll be a stone gas, Honey
Standing on the corner in a white Godfather hat. He drives a long black gangster Cadillac. He can steal a broads mind, man, in three or four minutes. It’s not how long you talk, brother, it’s what you put in it.
you aint an asshole
If you didn’t beat hiss ass for hugging you.
by chiefnation on Feb 8, 2012 6:33 PM CST via mobile up reply actions
Goosebumps
reading that!
The value of life can be measured by how many times your soul has been deeply stirred!
by wwJamaalCharlesdo on Feb 8, 2012 3:02 PM CST reply actions 1 recs
DT…man just needed that last sack on Krieg…I’ll never forget that game, or him and Neil Smith meeting at the QB.
by kc571 on Feb 8, 2012 3:24 PM CST reply actions 1 recs
For a moment there I thought the article was talking about Derrick Johnson......
Scary stuff.
https://twitter.com/#!/super8kc
Thanks NJ
I had never read this particular article. A lot of details I didn’t know about. I hope his family and friends are well today as they remember his life.
I like Dont'a Hightower if we can trade into the 25ish range in the first. Think he is going to be a great NFL ILB and would look great beside DJ. He is known as a run stuffer who is pretty good on the blitz but what I saw when watching him play was a very smart footbal player and a leader on the nations best D. Haven't really seen anyone else say that he plays well in coverage but vs. LSU he was excellent in coverage. If we can move down and pick up more picks that's who I take.
by OnlyKCFanNVA on Feb 8, 2012 3:32 PM CST reply actions 1 recs
There will never be another #58 in KC
RIP DT
"Douche- Baggery"- Are you guilty of any of these?
-The wearing of flat-billed baseball caps backwards
- Using an enormous amount of gel to spike the hair porcupine style
- Wearing polo shirts or any other type of shirt with the collar popped,
- Too many visits to the tanning salon
- Pointing at oneself, holding up beer cans, or making other obscenely immature gestures in solo or group photos
If you answered "YES" to any of these questions, then you my friend, are guilty of Douche Baggery! Congratulations!
by radtech04 on Feb 8, 2012 3:38 PM CST reply actions 1 recs
There will never be another #58 anywhere PERIOD.
by Coady on Feb 8, 2012 4:01 PM CST up reply actions 2 recs
Just a bunch of Wannabes
Bleedin Red & Gold... and Purple... since 1992.
by chiefs_fan_forever on Feb 8, 2012 5:05 PM CST up reply actions
Derrick,
Thank you for everything you did for the game of football and the Kansas City Chiefs, because of you I will always bleed red and gold.. DT gone, but never forgotten..GO Chiefs!!
" The world is Yours"
by Jeremy Daniel on Feb 8, 2012 3:40 PM CST reply actions 4 recs
Still one of the saddest days Ive ever experienced as a sports fan
-After this OC fiasco if the Chiefs dont WIN a playoff game in 2012 FIRE SCOTT PIOLI-
-Kool Aid drinking Cassel Believer-
(7-9) My record of picking Chiefs games before the season
(12-4) My Chiefs before the season prediction
Thunder Win-Loss 2011-2012 record (52-14)
Western division champs
NBA Champs over Miami Heat
by slackator on Feb 8, 2012 3:41 PM CST reply actions 1 recs
RIP
Providing COLOR commentary for Arrowhead Pride! AKA The Picture Diva!
"I am not embarrassed to be with a younger man, except when I drop him off at school."-Angie Dickinson, veteran vixen
by LadyChief on Feb 8, 2012 3:58 PM CST reply actions 2 recs
Derrick Thomas
Seriously, the reason I wear seat belts today
by RichieGrogan on Feb 8, 2012 4:01 PM CST reply actions 9 recs
rec'd a thousand times over
Since that day, I’ve never once entered a vehicle that proceeded to move without putting a seatbelt on. In fact, just the other day, I was in a parking lot for a large retail center. I was driving from one end of the parking lot to the other and we’re talking maybe a quarter of a mile. I actually started to pull out without putting the seatbelt on, and then no joke thought about DT when I recognized that and immediately stopped reversing and put my seatbelt on.
When you mess with Daboll, you get the horns.
Me too
I never wore a seat belt before his accident, and always did afterward (with a couple of weeks of hit and miss in there while I worked on making it a habit.) I think there are many others who changed as well.
"Trying is the first step to sucking" -Jimmy Chance
I remember it clearly too
I walked home from middle school after basketball practice hoping to catch SportsCenter for an update on him. He had been doing so well in the previous days and was even taking steps. I knew his career was over but I was concerned about him being able to live a normal life again, which it seemed as if he would. I cried and cried when I came home and found out the news. As many of you above, I wear my seat belt everywhere too, long before the “click it or ticket” thing.
1. David DeCastro (Stanford- guard) 2. Nick Foles (Arizona- quarterback) 3. Hebron Fangupo (BYU- nose tackle) 4. Derek Wolfe (Cincinnati- defensive end) 5. Brandon Taylor (LSU- safety) 6. Tom Compton (South Dakota- offensive tackle) 7. Tyler Urban (West Virginia- tight end)
RIP DT
You’re still my hero.
Go luck yourself.
by ottawachiefsfan on Feb 8, 2012 4:25 PM CST reply actions 1 recs
Elway's bane:
"saints_chiefsfan1979 is a genius" - yes, I lost a bet.
by Tomahawk29 on Feb 8, 2012 4:40 PM CST reply actions 5 recs
I love this pic...
DT whispering sweet nothings into Elway’s ear… Elway about to shit his pants. Awesome.
"saints_chiefsfan1979 is a genius" - yes, I lost a bet.
by Tomahawk29 on Feb 8, 2012 5:00 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
Good stuff...and the only reason I like Elway at all.
My earliest Chiefs memories are watching guys named Dawson, Podolak, Taylor, Thomas, Bell, and Buchanan. So, yeah...I'm kind of an old fart.
It was like Ali vs. Frazier. Poetry in motion. God...I miss those days.
My earliest Chiefs memories are watching guys named Dawson, Podolak, Taylor, Thomas, Bell, and Buchanan. So, yeah...I'm kind of an old fart.
I remember that day
I didn’t believe it when I first heard it. I remember hearing it on the radio and it still took a couple hours until it settled in and i really believed it. I just thought they had to be wrong, there was no way.
One of the best Chiefs ever, sad loss for the team and the community.
Some of my fondest memories of the Chiefs involve him in one way or another. Watching him throw his hands up in the air after a safety, terrorizing Elway, the 7 sack performance against Kreig and the Seahawks, the last sack that he didn’t get. The huge smile he always had. Seemed like all he did on the field was get sacks and force fumbles.
Insert witty yet thought provoking phrase here.
12 years later
And our D is just now recovering
by ArrowDread on Feb 8, 2012 5:25 PM CST reply actions 1 recs
Ironically
It took another beast of a pass rusher to get us there. Funny how that works.
I love my wife, my kids, and the Chiefs. In that order. Except on game days.
I am the Master of Hyperenthetical Asiditry (you know, like this. Only more)
One of the best I ever watched...
My heart sank when I first read about the accident 12 years ago…you will forever be remembered.
RIP, DT!
by angrydeafman on Feb 8, 2012 5:45 PM CST reply actions 1 recs
Indeed a sad day
It’s weird how one person who I’ve never met touched me so much. I echo everything everyone has said. For me DT WAS the Chiefs. I believe he touched others like this too. RIP
You Play to Win the game!!!
by Wichita Chief on Feb 8, 2012 6:04 PM CST reply actions 1 recs
I remember observing a moment of silence at school that day in honor of DT.
Greatest Chief ever, RIP #58.
"Toby has been cruising for a bruising for years, and I am now his cruise director. And my name, is Captain Bruising."
DT is the Reason...
I am a Chiefs fan. I’m from New Jersey and didn’t get to see the Chiefs play a lot back in the early 90’s until recently but watching highlights, and his motor and the way he was off the field made an impact in what team I selected to follow…
I can’t stand Giants & Jet fans.. FYI the Giants can’t win a game without luck…
Roll Tide, Derrick.
SB Nation's The Historical: Because all those games way back when matter.
by kleph on Feb 8, 2012 8:33 PM CST reply actions 1 recs
RIP DT. We love you man! Thanks for stopping to talk at Price Chopper and who can forget all the times you signed autographs at Independence Center.
I was at Canton when you were enshired in the hall of fame. You were the best Chiefs player our generation has had the opportunity to witness. .
by NFL season ticket holder on Feb 8, 2012 8:35 PM CST reply actions 2 recs
A friend of mine
and I went as well. What a great weekend!
"Trying is the first step to sucking" -Jimmy Chance
Was just thinking about this...
There are few players in the NFL who play(ed) with the passion Derrick had.
Thank you, DT. There isn’t a player that I enjoyed watching more than you.
My earliest Chiefs memories are watching guys named Dawson, Podolak, Taylor, Thomas, Bell, and Buchanan. So, yeah...I'm kind of an old fart.
I thought this was D.J. as well...
My heart skipped a beat reading this. I thought " when the hell did this happen?!" Then I saw Thomas and was relieved for a second…then all those bad memories of that day came flooding back…Horrible day for Derrick and his family and Chiefs nation.
by JonSarah Roberdes on Feb 9, 2012 11:38 AM CST reply actions
The emergence of football into my consciousness coincided with DT’s arrival into the NFL spotlight. He and Marcus Allen were the players who ushered me into my love of the Chiefs. In alot of ways, those two players represented Chiefs’ football for me. DT, specifically, maybe the reason I’m still a fan of good defensive football. I appreciate a good offense as much as the next guy, but there’s always been something about a hard hit or a good sack… and, DT, I think that’s thanks to you.
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