John Russell Thomas (July 24, 1924 – March 19, 1991) was an

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 ...

tackle who played four seasons with the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

of 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 was drafted by the Lions in the third round of the

1946 NFL Draft The 1946 National Football League Draft was held on January 14, 1946, at the Commodore Hotel in New York City, New York. The selections were initially withheld from the public out of fear that the newly formed All-America Football Conference wou ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

after attending Charleston High School in

Charleston, West Virginia Charleston is the capital and List of cities in West Virginia, most populous city of West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Elk River (West Virginia), Elk and Kanawha River, Kanawha rivers, the city had a population of 48,864 at the 20 ...

. His playing career ended in 1949 after he suffered a knee injury. Thomas was an assistant coach on the Detroit Lions' 1952 and 1953

NFL Championship Throughout its history, the National Football League (NFL) and other rival American football leagues have used several different formats to determine their league champions, including a period of inter-league matchups to determine a true national c ...

teams. After a stint as a broadcaster, Thomas became the team's director of player personnel. He served as the general manager of the Lions from 1967 until his retirement in 1989. He was unpopular with Lions fans for his tough stance at the negotiating table and the scapegoat for the team's mediocrity during his tenure. He died in his sleep on March 19, 1991. The Detroit Lions players wore a silver football shaped patch on the left chest of their jerseys with the initials 'JRT' in his memory during the 1991 season.

References

External links

Just Sports Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Russ 1924 births 1991 deaths American football tackles Ohio State Buckeyes football players Detroit Lions coaches Detroit Lions executives Detroit Lions players National Football League general managers Players of American football from Charleston, West Virginia People from Lincoln County, West Virginia