Trauma and the Pro Football Hall of Fame
It’s not as if we need further information about how trauma touches so many lives in this country; it’s not as if we needed more information that not wearing seatbelts can and does cause unnecessary trauma injury and death.
The new crop of inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame gave us just that. As the inductees were paraded with honor at the Hall of Fame Bowl last night, there was one who was represented by his son. Derrick Thomas died as a result of trauma injury on February 8, 2000.
Thomas’ son Derrion Thomas accepted the honor for his dad Saturday during the induction ceremony and walked forward during the Hall of Fame game Sunday night as his father’s name was mentioned during the induction recognition during the pre-game induction festivities.
Derrion Thomas accepts induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on behalf of his father
Derrick Thomas (January 1, 1967 – February 8, 2000), nicknamed D.T., was an American football linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League. He played his entire 11-year career for the Chiefs after being drafted 4th overall in the 1989 NFL Draft. Thomas, part of the class of 2009 entering the Pro Football Hall of Fame, was a premier football player throughout the 1990s and is considered one of the best pass rushers of all-time.
On January 23, 2000, Thomas’ 1999 Chevrolet Suburban went off Interstate 435 as he and two passengers were driving to Kansas City International Airport during a snowstorm, where he was going to fly to St. Louis to watch the NFC Championship game; police reports indicate that Thomas, who was driving, was speeding and weaving through traffic at the time of the accident. Thomas and one of the passengers were not wearing seat belts and both were thrown from the car; the passenger was killed instantly. The second passenger, who was wearing his safety belt, walked away from the scene uninjured. Thomas was left paralyzed from the chest down. He died on February 8, 2000, in Miami, of a pulmonary embolism, a massive blood clot that developed in his paralyzed lower extremities and traveled through his venous system to his lungs.
So as to not loose the outcome of this accident, two in the SUV were not wearing seat belts, one died instantly and one weeks after; the one person wearing seat belts walked away from that vehicle.
No exhaustive research was done on the cause of death for all in the Pro Football Hall of Fame who are no longer with us to determine if there are other victims of trauma related death in the Hall of Fame, one thing’s for sure, there is now.
This ought to be one of those teachable moments, especially for parents, and especially to all kids who are approaching driving age or are now driving.
I could go on and on about how people should know better, I think one of the circumstances in the aftermath speak more clearly on the matter:
After the accident, a Missouri highway patrolman said he noticed that more drivers were wearing seat belts. His mother established MomstoMoms58, which sought to educate the public about seat belt safety. The lesson was not lost on [Kansas City Chief’s Head Coach Marty] Schottenheimer.
“I never wore a seat belt,” he said. “I always said cynically that I didn’t want to be trapped in the wreckage.
“But from that day on, I have used a seat belt without fail.”
A simple lesson taught in the most tragic of terms. A lesson we should all learn.
