23 years ago today Derrick Thomas passed away
 

One of those moments in time where you'll never forget where you were at. I remmeber the whole city being extremely sad. I was in middle school when another teacher came in and announced it.

I was riding home from a high school soccer game in Dallas with my parents. I heard it on the radio and I cried. I didn't quite understand his real situation....I thought he'd easily recover and be back on the field the next season.

I was in high school.

I didn't believe it...DT was invincible in my mind. Sucked...

This is the part where I start to feel old reading some of these responses....I was still in the Military...

Thanks for making me cry

Junior year in high school. Teacher came in and announced his death (in Spanish class). I remember going to the Antioch Mall that day with my mother and feeling miserable. I was devastated for some time after.

I'll always associate my 1st ever car wreck as a teenager with DT's wreck because they both happened on the same day. Mine def not as serious just a minor fender bender from sliding on ice and into another car at slow speeds.

Wear your seatbelt folks.

I was at work and had just finished a major project. I was wrecked for the rest of the afternoon and accomplished nothing. At first, I thought the guy who told me was joking.

I remember when it happened but I was pretty young and it didn't affect me the way it seems to have affected people older than me, who may remember the early part of his career more.

cried in class

I was at work and my wife called me. Wrecked me that day.

I cried way more than I care to admit and grieved for a long time afterwards.

I was "home". A mostly burned down motel. I stayed in one of 3 units that wasn't ravaged by fire. I must've been 14-15 years old. I def cried. In hindsight, such an emotional experience probably only tightened my bond to the Chiefs during these formative years.

Moral of the story: Put on your ****ing seatbelt.

I was driving to one of my clients offices and had on sports radio. They announced it, I pulled over and started crying. I was late for my meeting and red eyed. Told the client why, and seemed to understand. Seems like yesterday.

My son and I stopped by his grave when we went to the SuperBowl in Miami.

I can't believe some of you cranky old men are younger than me.

I was smoking pot with a friend in my freshman dorm before we walked to class, when the news came on TV.

I was waiting in line for a Florida/Kentucky basketball game that night which was like my highlight of the year. It was so jarring reconciling the dual emotions.

I was at work and did a decent amount of driving around town, so had sports radio on most of the day. It was before every single car had daytime running headlights, but it was kind of a thing that day.

I had just moved to Orlando and was coming back from lunch and saw a glimpse of the break room TV that showed a picture of DT and showed the years 1976-2000 underneath it. The volume wasn’t on and it first it didn’t click as to why they would be showing those dates. I immediately went to the old Star Chiefs board when I got back to my desk to check it out and it was completely down(23 years later and they still have fixed their shit). Just seemed completely unreal and still does now.

My second favorite Chief of all time. Just wish he could have been in the SB just once.

That felt like losing a close family member.

So was I, and I had already been in 10 years.....Jesus I got old fast.

I had just gotten OUT after serving my four shen this happened.

I refreshed ESPN.com while at work and the page was in plain text because the css wasn't working. As I was refreshing again, I glimpsed some text indicating DT was dead. I hoped it was wrong, but then the fully formatted headline appeared.

RIP DT.

He's my favorite Chief of all time.

I was at work and when I saw the news - I died inside. Man this is one of my FAVORITE Chiefs of ALL time. I actually could not believe it. I thought he would recover but, he unfortunately did not. I cried my eyes out and then again in the Arrowhead showing. I have an awesome mini helmet signed by him JSA cert. In my man cave, he is very well displayed and will always be remembered as my favorite Chief of all time. Yes, he was incredible. R.I.P.
On my anniversary, we went to a casino. They kept showing his HOF induction by his son on the TV and I just could not stop watching. My wife came up to me and said "Babe, they just gave us a bottle of champagne for our anniversary!" I actually tuned her out. Man what a terrible loss for Chiefs Kingdom.

So we bought our 2nd home in 2016 and my wife was out of town. In the background on the TV was playing - NFL Network A Football Life Derrick Thomas. Ironically, I was viewing an item of a Derrick Thomas signed mini helmet from a card shop in Kansas City. I was in discussion with the guy and the item was a circa 96, 97 signed. We haggled on the price and he was pushing because the item was JSA certified and had sticker as well as card of authenticity. So as we wagered back and forth. I won by saying $400 take it or leave it! He accepted my final offer. I went out to my mailbox to check the mail and HOLY SHIT! I had received a check in the mail for $400 for over paying my insurance! I watched the rest of the TV still showing NFL Network A Football Life Derrick Thomas and started crying.

Here are the pics of the helmet, the shrine and another of a sighed FB card by him...

such a sad day. He's definitely my favorite Chief of all time. He never should have died too.

I walked into a doctor's office that was playing KUDL right as they announced it over the air. The entire office just had stunned looks on their face, I remember it vividly.

I was in 4th grade. Crazy.

I was leaving a job interview when the news came across my truck's radio. I had to pull over and take some time to compose myself. DT was a great guy and I cherish all the times we interacted.

I started wearing my seatbelt regularly after that accident happened.

:thumb: Yep, me too.

I was just starting at DFW airport. About to start the fire academy. Went upstairs to check news on a break and read the terrible news.

I'll never forget that day. At the time the only internet access I had was at work, and it was a single station behind the reception area. I kept sneaking away to check if there were any updates. Then one of my buddies called and broke the news. That shit hit me hard, especially since it seemed like he was getting better. I was foolishly hoping that he might one day play again, and then just like that he was gone.

If that one who sucks the penis Baker hadn't kicked the ball out of bounds in his last game, the Raiders probably wouldn't have won, and Thomas wouldn't have been driving like a maniac to catch a flight to see another game - he would have been with the team preparing for a Chiefs playoff game instead. Don't know what happened to that piece of shit, but I hope it isn't good.

I was at Arrowhead for the game two weeks before - the last game he played in that they won. At least I got to see him walk off the field a winner, sadly for the last time.

I was on my way home from work in downtown KC when I heard, and I pulled over and cried. I had no idea that kinda news would hit me so hard, but in that moment I was just crushed.

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Still the only Jersey I wear on Game day....and the first I ever owned!!

So what you are saying is ripping the sleeves off of a jersey = murder.

JK, but it is a terrifying wonder how one small act can cascade into something much bigger.