Duane Thomas

For the murdered boxer, see Duane Thomas (boxer).

Duane Thomas

Date of birth:	June 21, 1947 (1947-06-21) (age 64)
Place of birth:	Dallas, Texas, USA
Career information
Position(s):	Running back
College:	West Texas A&M
NFL Draft:	1970 / Round: 1 / Pick: 23
Organizations
As player:
1970-1972 1972 1973-1974 1975	Dallas Cowboys San Diego Chargers Washington Redskins The Hawaiians (World Football League)
Playing stats at NFL.com

Duane Julius Thomas (born June 21, 1947 in Dallas, Texas) is a former American football running back in the National Football League who played four seasons for the Dallas Cowboys, San Diego Chargers and Washington Redskins from 1970 to 1974.

Professional career

Thomas played college football at West Texas State University and was drafted in the first round of the 1970 NFL Draft by the Cowboys. As a rookie in 1970, he led Dallas and finished eighth in the NFL in rushing with 803 yards on 151 carries (5.3 yards per carry) and five touchdowns. Thomas led the league in touchdowns in 1971 with eleven rushing touchdowns and thirteen overall. He also led Dallas in rushing with 793 yards on 175 carries. After missing the entire 1972 season when he was cut by the San Diego Chargers during pre-season, Thomas played with the Redskins in 1973 and 1974, rushing for a total of 442 yards. His career rushing totals were 2038 yards on 453 carries, with 21 touchdowns. He also caught 38 passes for 297 yards, with three touchdowns.

In a contract dispute with Cowboys management, Thomas was traded before the 1971 season to the New England Patriots. Thomas immediately got into a dispute with Patriots coach John Mazur, and after a few days, the NFL granted the Patriots' request to void the trade, sending the disgruntled player back to the Cowboys. Thomas refused to speak with any of the Cowboys players, coaches or management for the entire season. Despite his lack of communication, Thomas helped the Cowboys to their first Super Bowl (Super Bowl VI) win that same season. During a postgame interview with following that Super Bowl, CBS television announcer Tom Brookshier noted Thomas' speed and asked him, rhetorically, "Are you that fast?" Thomas' response: "Evidently."

Thomas was reportedly voted as the Super Bowl's Super Bowl Most Valuable Player by an overwhelming margin. However, Thomas had boycotted the media throughout the season as well, and Larry Klein, editor of Sport, which presented the award, didn't know how Thomas would act at a banquet in New York. With this in mind, Klein announced Roger Staubach as the winner.^[1]

According to Hunter S. Thompson: "All he did was take the ball and run every time they called his number - which came to be more and more often, and in the Super Bowl Thomas was the whole show." (Thompson: Fear and Loathing: On The Campaign Trail '72)

The Cowboys successfully traded Thomas to the San Diego Chargers during training camp in 1972.^[2]

Book

In 1989, Thomas, with the help of freelance sports writer Paul Zimmerman, wrote Duane Thomas and the Fall of America's Team, a memoir of Thomas' time playing for the Dallas Cowboys. A reviewer of the book commented, "The title implies, although the text nowhere suggests, that there is a relation between the fate of running back Thomas and the decline in the fortunes of the Dallas Cowboys. Thomas, when he appeared on the professional football scene in 1970, was acclaimed as an outstanding player but within two years was stigmatized as an "emotionally disturbed misfit," largely because of his periods of total silence. With coauthor Zimmerman, a freelance writer, Thomas attempts to show why that classification was unfair, and excerpts from his journal depict a disillusioned idealist; but at a remove of almost two decades, few will care."^{[citation needed]}

In August 2008 Thomas visited the Cowboys during their training camp in Oxnard, California.

Treatment of Thomas in Coyne and Millman history

The 2010 book The Ones Who Hit the Hardest by Chad Millman and Shawn Coyne^[3] on the Pittsburgh Steelers and their great 1970s rivalry with the Dallas Cowboys offers a critical assessment of Thomas. They note that Thomas was highly regarded by the Cowboys when he first arrived, and that he was an avid team player who worked very hard and produced spectacular results on the field. Unfortunately an agent who Thomas contracted to look after his financial matters so he could concentrate on football, pocketed large amounts of his cash and failed to cover his bills. A looming divorce also added to the runner's woes. Thomas' sterling play however helped Dallas to the Super Bowl where they faced the Baltimore Colts. In a dull game marked by poor Dallas performance and turnovers, (including 10 penalties for more than 100 yards) the authors hold that Thomas fumbled in the third quarter, 2 yards shy of a touchdown, in a disputed referee call. Coach Tom Landry, the authors contend, abandoned the running game in favor of action by quarterback Craig Morton. With plenty of time remaining, the Cowboy offense stalled, and Morton threw three interceptions in the fourth quarter, dooming Dallas' chances of a win. After the lost game, Landry in public comments blamed the 3rd quarter fumble by Thomas as the reason for the loss. This embittered the running back intensely, who felt his 1,116 yards that year, and his scoring of the only Cowboy touchdown in the game deserved better.^[4]

Relations deteriorated after that, state Millman and Coyne, and Thomas resented Landry's perceived lack of appreciation the following year. The pending divorce, and looming IRS audits and claims for back taxes added further pressure on the 23-year old running back. Thomas became dissatisfied with his salary and demanded a renegotiation. The authors however note that Thomas was not the only player to run into financial difficulties or attempt to modify his contract.

"No one produced like Duane Thomas had in 1970. The evidence was incontrovertible.. Thomas understood that playing out his option was a ludicrous choice. The average career of an NFL player is less than five years. The Dallas Cowboys would get the best years of his football career and then he'd still be at the mercy of the owners and their commissioner. Thomas reconsidered their offer to extend their contract and realized that the new deal would cover his debts and alimony, but would leave him only subsistence wages. He'd be a star on the field but a lackey off of it. Sharing his personal problems with the Cowboys gave them the opportunity to punch his situation into one of their computers. It spit out the best possible deal for the organization- keeping its star running back under their thumb at the lowest price... [they] had him just where they wanted him- insecure about his position and saddled with debt. Some of the greatest players in the history of professional football- Lee Roy Jordan, Bob Lilly, Rayfield Wright - had faced the same circumstances before Thomas had. They had cowered and taken the Cowboy contract extensions."^[5]

Thomas attempted to get football great Jim Brown to intervene on his behalf to no avail. In 1971, his bitterness exploded in a training camp press conference, in which he dared to rail against Landry and management. Rumors spread through training camp that Thomas and the Black Muslims were in sync to kidnap Tex Schramm, after observers noted a small dark man "with only one name" shadowing Thomas. The controversy churned with his trade to the Patriots and the subsequent return to the Cowboys. Thomas had alienated many of his teammates, nevertheless Landry generously took him back on the special teams where he performed well, and eased him back into the running back slot. His performance was better than ever, although he refused to speak to reporters (who dubbed him 'The Sphinx") or to shake hands with some teammates after making outstanding plays. His quality play however culminated in an excellent Super Bowl performance and likely MVP award, but this was denied due to his previous conduct. Millman and Coyne quote some Dallas players who still admired Thomas for standing up to management. Despite the victory, Thomas was traded to the San Diego Chargers in 1972, who later traded him to the Washington Redskins in 1973. The Cowboys would not win another Super Bowl until the coming of another brash running sensation, one Tony Dorsett.^[6]

Before he was out of football, Thomas got a job at Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation in the Legal Department and decided to go back into football. He was called by the Green Bay Packers and went there to try out, but they used him mainly as a blocking back during that preseason and he did not make the team. Also at some point later, he played football for the Canadian Football League.

References

1. ^ McGinn, Bob (2009). The Ultimate Super Bowl Book. Minneapolis: MVP Books. ISBN 9780760336519. 
2. ^ The Man Inside Landry: Paperback Edition By Bob St. John, pg 205
3. ^ The Ones Who Hit the Hardest" by Chad Millman and Shawn Coyne, 2010, Gotham Books, pg 102-204
4. ^ Millmam and Coyne 104-105
5. ^ Millman and COyne 110-112
6. ^ Millman and Coyne, 115-117

External links

• http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/ThomDu00.htm

Persondata
Name	Thomas, Duane
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	June 21, 1947
Place of birth	Dallas, Texas, USA
Date of death
Place of death