Topic: Thurman Thomas

Thurman Lee Thomas (born May 16, 1966 in Houston, Texas) is a former American football running back who spent most of his NFL career with the Buffalo Bills. Thomas was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2007 and into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008.

Thomas grew up playing football on the Missouri City Junior High School (now Missouri City Middle School) and Willowridge High School teams before attending college at Oklahoma State University where he was a teammate of Barry Sanders. At Oklahoma State, Thomas had 897 rushes for 4,595 yards, 43 touchdowns, and 21 100-yard rushing games. He was also a Heisman Trophy candidate in his senior year. He was a first team selection on the College Football All-America Team in 1985 and 1987. In the 1987 Sun Bowl, Thomas ran for 157 yards and four touchdowns in the 35-33 victory over West Virginia, keeping Barry Sanders on the sidelines for the majority of the game. Thomas left OSU as the school's all-time leading rusher and his number 34 is one of only three jerseys retired at Oklahoma State. Sanders would replace Thomas as starter the next year in 1988.

A knee injury damaged Thomas's certain first round pick status and caused him to slip into second round (40th overall) of the 1988 NFL draft by the Buffalo Bills, their first choice in the draft. Thomas is well known as part of the offense that included Jim Kelly and Andre Reed, which led the Bills to four straight Super Bowl appearances.