Hall of Fame linebacker Derrick Thomas will have his jersey (58) retired by the Chiefs and the Pro Football Hall of Fame will make a special presentation to the Thomas family during a halftime ceremony at Arrowhead on Sunday, the Chiefs announced Tuesday.
Thomas, who was enshrined as part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2009 in Canton, Ohio in August, will be the 10th player in franchise history to have his jersey retired. Thomas joins Kicker Jan Stenerud (3), quarterback Len Dawson (16), cornerback Emmitt Thomas (18), runningback Abner Haynes (28), runningback Stone Johnson (33), runningback Mack Lee Hill (36), linebacker Willie Lanier (63), linebacker Bobby Bell (78) and defensive tackle Buck Buchanan (86).
Thomas, the fourth overall selection in the ’89 NFL Draft out of the University of Alabama, was posthumously inducted into the Chiefs Hall of Fame in 2001, and the club’s Most Valuable Player Award was subsequently renamed in his honor as the Derrick Thomas Award.
Thomas died in his hometown of Miami, Fla., on Feb. 8, 2000, after suffering a serious auto accident in Kansas City, Missouri on January 23, 2000. He was buried in his hometown of Miami on Feb. 19, 2000.
