February 8, 2000: Derrick Thomas dies in Miami, from the effects of a car crash. He was only 33 years old, and still an active football player.
Derrick Vincent Thomas was born on January 1, 1967 in Miami. He was raised by a single mother after his father, a B-52 pilot, was killed in action in the Vietnam War. After playing linebacker at South Miami Senior High School, he earned a scholarship to the University of Alabama.
Despite a defense that included future All-Pros Thomas, Cornelius Bennett and Keith McCants, Alabama went to a bowl game in all 4 of his seasons, winning 3 of them, but did not win the Southeastern Conference Championship, or play in one of the traditional New Year's Day bowl games. In his senior year, 1988, Thomas won the Butkus Award as college football's top linebacker.
The Kansas City Chiefs selected him as the 4th pick in the 1989 NFL Draft, behind only Troy Aikman, Tony Mandarich and Barry Sanders. He was selected ahead of Deion Sanders, Steve Atwater and Andre Rison.
In 1989, he was named NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, and was selected for the 1st of 9 straight Pro Bowls. On October 21, 1990, he set an official NFL record with 7 sacks in a game. (The story of Norm Willey's 17 sacks in a 1952 game has not been verified.) But on the game's final play, Dave Krieg avoided Thomas for an 8th sack, and threw a touchdown pass that won the game, 17-16. Thomas later called it the one play in his career he wished he could have a second chance at.
He won Man of the Year awards in 1993, by the League under the name of the Walter Payton Award; and in 1995, by the NFL Players' Association under the name of the "Whizzer" White Award. At the conclusion of the 1999 season, he was named to the NFL's 1990s All-Decade Team. He was only 33 years old, and seemed to have more good years left in him.
But the Chiefs have had a sad history. In 1963, running back Stone Johnson was killed when he broke his neck in a preseason game. He was only 23, and had yet to play a regular-season game in the NFL (or the AFL, in which the Chiefs were playing at the time). In 1965, Mack Lee Hill, essentially drafted to to replace Johnson, was undergoing knee surgery when he was stricken by a pulmonary embolism, and died at age 25.
In 1980, former All-Pro offensive tackle Jim Tyrer, going through business failures, shot and killed his wife, and then killed himself. He was 41. In 1983, running back Joe Delaney, having played 2 All-Pro seasons, drowned in a failed attempt to save 2 drowning boys. He was 24.
On January 23, 2000, Thomas was driving his 1999 Chevrolet Suburban, with 2 passengers, on Interstate 435 on their way to Kansas City International Airport, to fly to St. Louis, to watch the NFC Championship Game between the St. Louis Rams and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was snowing, and Thomas was driving at 70 miles per hour. The SUV went off the road and crashed.
One passenger, whose name has not been publicly released, was wearing a seat belt, and was not injured at all. Thomas and the other passenger, Michael Tellis, were not wearing seat belts, and were thrown from the wreckage. Tellis died instantly. Thomas was paralyzed from the chest down. His football career was over.
In early February, he was transferred from a hospital in Kansas City to Jackson Memorial Hospital in his hometown of Miami. On February 8, he was being helped from his bed into a wheelchair, so he could be taken to physical therapy, when, like Mack Lee Hill, he was stricken with a pulmonary embolism, a common occurrence with paraplegics, especially recent ones. He was dead within minutes.
After Thomas, in 2012, linebacker Jovan Belcher mirrored Tyrer's fate by killing his wife, then driving to the Chiefs' Arrowhead Stadium, and killing himself. I don't know what the Chiefs did to bring all this on, but it seems like the club is cursed. In 2020, they won Super Bowl LIV, their 1st World Championship in 50 years. But their history is still tragic.
Thomas was posthumously elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009. The Chiefs subsequently retired his Number 58, after having unofficially removed it from circulation. They also named their Player of the Year award, which he had won twice, after him. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2014.
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February 8, 2000 was a Tuesday. Baseball was out of season. The NFL season had ended 9 days earlier, when the St. Louis Rams beat the Tennessee Titans, 23-16 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta in Super Bowl XXXIV.
There were 6 games played in the NBA:
* The New Jersey Nets beat the Boston Celtics, 131-113 at the Continental Airlines Arena at the Meadowlands.
* The Toronto Raptors beat the Atlanta Hawks, 109-88 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto. Vince Carter had 36 points.
* The Houston Rockets beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 91-83 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.")
* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 79-77 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
* The Phoenix Suns beat the Vancouver Grizzlies, 94-76 at the America West Arena (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix.
* And the Sacramento Kings beat the Chicago Bulls, 119-80 at the Arco Arena in Sacramento.
And there were 8 games in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils played to a tie, 2-2 at Madison Square Garden.
* The New York Islanders lost to the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-3 at the Nassau Coliseum.
* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 5-4 at the Molson Centre (now the Bell Centre) in Montreal. Trevor Linden scored 3 goals for the Canadiens, but Jason Smith scored the game-winner with 1:57 left in overtime.
* The Washington Capitals and the Boston Bruins played to a tie, 2-2 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston.
* The San Jose Sharks beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 8-0 at the Ice Palace (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa. Owen Nolan and Jeff Friesen each scored 2 goals.
* The St. Louis Blues beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-1 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Colorado Avalanche, 2-0 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.
* And the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Kings, 5-3 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.
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