Mike Thomas, a running back who was named the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year in 1975 but feuded with his team when he refused to take painkillers to play through an injury, has died at the age of 66.
Growing up in Greenville, Texas, Thomas was a star athlete -- as were his brothers Jimmy Thomas and Earl Thomas, both of whom also played in the NFL. Mike Thomas initially went to Oklahoma, but felt overwhelmed at a football powerhouse and transferred to UNLV, which at the time played in Division II.
Thomas played well enough at UNLV that Washington selected him in the fifth round of the 1975 NFL draft, and he made an instant impact, running for 919 yards and adding another 483 receiving yards. He was voted rookie of the year at the end of that season.
The next year Thomas had 1,101 rushing yards and was named to the Pro Bowl, and he appeared to have a bright future in Washington. But by the 1978 season things changed: After the team got off to a great start, he suffered an ankle injury, declined to take painkillers to play through the injury, and was traded after the season.
“At the time we were 6-0 and playing very well, they started putting pressure on me to shoot up my ankle and I refused,” Thomas told the Associated Press in 1979. “Some of the players blasted me in the newspapers, saying I was only thinking of myself.”
Thomas said he was hurt that head coach Jack Pardee didn’t defend him amid newspaper stories citing anonymous teammates criticizing him for not playing through his injury.
“I knew it was over when Coach Pardee didn’t defend me or try to find out who was doing all the talking. I mean, telling someone he has to use pain killers, at the risk of further harm, is like telling someone what religion they have to be,” Thomas said.
Despite the way his time in Washington ended, Thomas remained loyal to the team, and to the NFL, which he watched religiously.
“He loved life, he loved people, he loved the Redskins and he loved reliving the years that he was there, which brought him a lot of joy,” Thomas’s wife, Sylvia Wilkerson Thomas, told the Washington Post. “He loved the Redskins and playing for the Redskins. He had the NFL TV package so he could see all the games. I’d say, ‘Which game are you watching?’ And he’d say, ‘I’m watching all of them.’ The love of the game was always there.”