Ken Thomas (February 11, 1960 — November 13, 2002) was a professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

who played in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played college football at

San José State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sy ...

Early life and high school

Thomas was born and grew up in

Hanford, California Hanford is a city and county seat of Kings County, California, located in the San Joaquin Valley region of the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley. The population was 53,967 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. History ...

and attended Hanford High School, where he competed in football, track and basketball. Thomas was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame in 2010.

College career

Thomas was named All-

Pacific Coast Athletic Association The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

in 1979 and 1981, when he was also a second-team NEA All-America selection. Thomas tied the school record with 14 interceptions and holds the record for interceptions returned for touchdowns in a season (3) and for a career (5). Thomas also ran track at SJSU and was named an All-American 1981 as a member of the Spartans' 400-meter relay team that finished fifth at the NCAA championships.

Professional career

Thomas was selected in the seventh round of the 1983 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs. He was moved to running back in the preseason and rushed for 55 yards on 15 carries and caught 28 passes for 236 yards and one touchdown. Thomas injured his knee in a preseason game in 1984 an spent the season on injured reserve and 1985 on the physically unable to perform list before ultimately retiring.

Personal life

Thomas's older brother, Jewerl Thomas, also played football at SJSU and in the NFL. Thomas died in 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Ken 1960 births 2002 deaths American football running backs San Jose State Spartans football players Kansas City Chiefs players Players of American football from Hanford, California Track and field athletes from California American football defensive backs San Jose State Spartans men's track and field athletes