| There is fast, too fast and way
too fast. Derrick Thomas the football player was fast.
He ran fast. He got to the quarterback fast.
"He’s a very talented athlete who can move very fast, very quick," said
John Bunting in 1995, when he was the Chiefs’ LB coach.
In 1992, when he was Thomas’ teammate, DE Neil Smith said, "The dude’s
got closer speed. But the thing about Derrick is he’s got this great ability to get
low to the ground and not lose a step.
"He has the ability to turn the corner on a dime. It’s something you have to
have strong ankles to do. The guy’s quick upfield, but when he turns the corner, he
really turns the corner. He can just wheel his body around. It’s something you just
can’t teach."
Derrick Thomas the driver was too fast.
Thomas was at the wheel of his 1999 Chevrolet Suburban headed for Kansas City
International Airport when it veered into the median and rolled several times.
An icy snow was falling at the time, and Clay County prosecutor Don Norris said he
viewed the accident as weather-related.
That said, Thomas was traveling at least 70 mph on Interstate 435, according to
Missouri Highway Patrol Cpl. Scott Meyer.
That was too fast for the conditions.
In the immediate aftermath of the accident, Thomas, who wasn’t wearing a seatbelt,
was paralyzed from the chest down, and a passenger was killed.
Derrick Thomas’ life ended way too fast.
First came the rumors. A co-worker told me he had heard from a player on the Chicago
Bears that Thomas had died today (Feb. 8).
Could it be true? I’d never even considered that an option given the length of
time that had passed since the Jan. 23 car accident.
I checked the Associated Press wire.
Nothing.
Perhaps this was one of those crazy rumors about famous people that often take on a
life of their own.
A moment later, a one-sentence AP story crossed the wire:
"MIAMI — NFL star Derrick Thomas has died, hospital spokeswoman says."
One sentence, and a life is gone. It reminded me of the time I was at a hospital and a
male patient died. The family members rushed into the room of the deceased. A nurse erased
the man’s name from the board of patients at the nurse’s station. One swipe of
the eraser, and a life was declared over.
So it was for Thomas with the one-sentence news bulletin that set the table for a
barrage of stories that would follow.
Thomas was only 33 years old. The key word being "only." Way too fast.
"It is a devastating tragedy to the Kansas City Chiefs family, the people of
Kansas City, the fans of the National Football League and also to me, personally,"
Chiefs president Carl Peterson said.
Before you cynically write this off as just another athlete who thought he was
bulletproof and drove with reckless abandon, think back to your own youth.
I can think of a time or two when I was driving way too fast in my younger days. I
consider myself to have been pretty responsible back then, but let’s face it:
We’ve all had a bit of recklessness in our youth.
One instance comes to mind. I was driving way too fast on the expressway one day when I
was in my mid-20s. Someone cut me off. My car went into a couple of 360-degree spins,
starting in the right lane, spinning across two lanes to the left with the back left
corner of the car barely grazing the cement median next to the far-left lane. The car
continued to spin back to the right, crossing all of the lanes into a ditch. This all
happened in traffic. I walked away without a scratch. The car itself had only the mildest
scratch where it had touched the median.
Why I am alive to write this and Thomas is dead is nothing more than the hand of fate
smiling on one person and frowning on another. Pure, dumb luck.
Before you write Derrick Thomas off as just another in a long line of athletes who
thinks of no one but himself and goes through life with selfish, reckless abandon,
consider all the positive things he accomplished in his life. And I’m not talking
about all the sacks or Pro Bowl trips he piled up over the years.
He started an inner-city reading program with his Third and Long Foundation. He was
designated by President Bush as the "832nd point of light" for his
reading program. In recognition of his community efforts, he was named the 1993 Edge NFL
Man of the Year. In 1995, he was selected as the winner of the Byron White Humanitarian
Award for service to team, community and country.
"He has done so much for this team and our city during the time that he had with
us," Peterson said. "He had so much love for the game, for his teammates and for
our town. Our prayers go out to Derrick’s family, to his fellow teammates and to our
fans who knew Derrick. A light has gone out."
Way too fast. |
