Frank Thomas

Notable Sports Figures
Career Statistics
Thomas was arrested by the South Miami police and
sent to the Dade Marine Institute, a program run much
like a boot camp. It was the last stop for juvenile offenders
before they were sent on to prison, and although
Thomas hated it, he said later that it was the
best thing to happen to him. He told Jeffrey Flanagan
of the Kansas City Star that getting caught made him
stop “running with the wrong people. Instead of sitting
around and throwing rocks at cars and buses, and
trying to figure out what place to rob, I put all my energy
into football.”
After leaving the detention center, Thomas went on
to earn all-league honors at South Miami High School,
which in turn earned him a scholarship to the University
of Alabama, a powerhouse in college football. Thomas
became a star, amassing sixty-seven tackles in his junior
season and compiling a school-record eighteen sacks.
When he was a senior, he was presented the Butkus
Award, given to the country’s top linebacker. He graduated
from the Crimson Tide with fifty-two sacks and
seventy-four tackles, a new school record.
Roll Tide to Kansas City
Marty Schottenheimer had been brought in to turn
around the Kansas City Chiefs organization that fared
poorly throughout much of the 1980s. His first order
of business was to draft Thomas, picked fourth overall
by the Chiefs in the 1989 draft. Thomas made an
immediate impact, recording ten sacks and fifty-five
quarterback pressures. The Associated Press awarded
him their Defensive Rookie of the Year Award, and he
began a long series of Pro Bowl appearances, as well
as winning the Mack Lee Award for best Chiefs
Rookie.
Thomas helped usher in a new era for the Kansas
City Chiefs. Throughout much of the nineties, the
Tackles Misc/fumbles Interceptions
Yr Team TOT SOLO AST SACK FF BK INT TD
1989 KC 75 56 19 10.0 3 0 0 0
1990 KC 63 47 16 20.0 6 0 0 0
1991 KC 79 60 19 14.0 4 0 0 0
1992 KC 67 54 13 15.0 8 0 0 0
1993 KC 43 32 11 8.0 4 0 0 0
1994 KC 71 67 4 11.0 2 0 0 0
1995 KC 53 48 5 8.0 2 0 0 0
1996 KC 55 49 6 13.0 4 1 0 0
1997 KC 34 30 4 9.5 3 0 0 0
1998 KC 42 35 7 12.0 2 0 0 0
1999 KC 60 54 6 7.0 2 0 1 0
TOTAL 642 532 110 127.5 40 1 1 0
C: Kansas City Chiefs.
Awards and Accomplishments
1988 Butkus Award; All-American
1989 Associated Press Defensive Rookie of the Year
1989-97 Pro Bowl
1991 Named Chiefs’ Most Valuable Player
1993 Named NFL’s Man of the Year
1993 Recipient of Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall of Fame Award
1993 Designated by President George Bush as “832nd Point of
Light” for his charity work in Kansas City
1994 Named Chiefs’ Most Valuable Player (second time)
1995 Receives Byron “Whizzer” White Humanitarian Award
Thomas
Chiefs were playoff contenders, something fans hadn’t
seen in a long time. Thomas established a Chiefs record
for sacks in only his second season (20), and forced
many fumbles, helping turn the Kansas City defense
into one of the best in the league. In 1994, his sixth season
in the NFL, Thomas would become the Chiefs’ all
time sack leader with 72.5 sacks.
In his final four seasons, Thomas continued to exhibit
the high level of play he was known for, though an injury
to his left triceps prior to the 1997 season kept him
out for four games. When he returned to the field, he did
so with an arm brace, thus limiting his mobility and effectiveness.
Compounding his physical woes were the problems
the Chiefs were having as a team. They couldn’t seem to
coalesce. Coach Schottenheimer seemed to have lost
control of his players, and in a 1998 game against the
Denver Broncos, Thomas, his frustrations mounting,
racked up three penalties in one defensive series, earning
him a one-week suspension. At the season’s end,
when the Chiefs failed to make the playoffs, Schottenheimer
retired. Thomas planned to take some time off
and then get ready for the next season.
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