Former wide receiver for Oilers seen as a ‘father to the fatherless’
A person really can’t be defined by numbers, even when those numbers are a source of fame. But that’s one of the first ways some people remember Earl Lewis Thomas.
A football fan might start with Thomas’ years as a tight end for three nationally-ranked University of Houston Cougar teams in the late 1960s and early ’70s. Or the stats he accrued during six seasons as a wide receiver with the NFL’s Chicago Bears, St. Louis
Cardinals and Houston Oilers: He caught 106 passes for 1,651 yards, scoring 14 touchdowns — one of which was a heart-pounding, 82-yard kickoff return.
Thomas died July 4 of COVID-19, at 71, and the bigger numbers of his life can’t be so neatly packaged. Let’s just say they are significant, and added up to enough that the city of Houston proclaimed an “Earl Thomas Day” one day in March last year.
Knowing how many people would want to pay their respects, Thomas’ family organized a special drive-thru memorial service Saturday, where visitors passed by six tents, each one commemorating a different aspect of Thomas’ life: his childhood, college years, NFL career, Track Houston legacy, businesses and philanthropy, and family.
“He was larger than life. A father to the fatherless,” said one of his two biological daughters, Kirbi Thomas Smith. “He was just a good man.”
Thomas grew up in Greenville, about 50 miles northeast of Dallas. He was the fourth of Jimmie and Mae Frances Thomas’
seven kids — a family devoted to church, education and friendly competition. (His brothers Jimmy and Mike were also standout athletes who advanced to the NFL.) Earl played trombone in the Carver High School Jazz Band, but football became his destiny when UH recruited him to play football. He played tight end on three nationally ranked Cougar teams, then was drafted by the Chicago Bears in 1971, the year before he graduated.
Always an entrepreneurial leader — starting with a paper route as a kid — Thomas turned his energies to business after retiring from the NFL. Black Enterprise magazine recognized his first company, Gold Line Refining Company in Lake Charles, La., as one of the nation’s top Black businesses. Along with fellow former NFL’ers Audrey McMillan and Harold “Butch” Woolfork, he also formed WTM Investments, an affordable housing development and management company.
WTM operated affordable housing in Houston’s Fifth Ward and constructed new housing in central city neighborhoods. As a member of the William A. Lawson Institute’s “Kitchen Cabinet,” Thomas also spearheaded construction of a 50-unit senior project on Scott Street in Third Ward and organized its annual fundraising golf tournaments. Later, he used his expertise in the industry as a construction inspector in Stafford County.
Business was business, but Thomas’ heart never left the sports arena, where he could inspire young people. Thomas propelled thousands of boys and girls toward district and regional competitions — and scholarships — during 35 years with the Track Houston Youth Track Club. That work earned him an honor as USA Track and Field’s first National Coach of the Year.
Chenelle Parks, one of those Thomas coached during 35 years with the club Track Houston, called him “Houston’s Own Bonus Dad” in a Facebook post. She remembers his humorous encouragement, in a Carmen Mitchell voice, “What you mean your muscles hurt? Them gristles!”
“We all used to crack up laughing at you,” she wrote. She also hasn’t forgotten how Thomas pushed her to run when she pretended to have a stomachache, talked her into competing in sweltering heat in Odessa, and how he tried to talk his way out of a ticket in Washington, D.C., after he’d made an illegal turn. (He didn’t succeed with that one.)
Thomas’ philanthropy was just as head-spinning. The nonprofit Thomas Sports Foundation he established in 2012, with a running camp, expanded to address the housing needs of troubled youth. He combined fundraising for that organization — and many others — with his love for golf. Keeping a busy schedule of charity tournaments, Thomas didn’t just show up and play: He organized, led committees, brought in celebrities, drove carts.
Thomas also stayed in the gridiron world as program director for the NFL Alumni Association Houston Chapter. Most recently, in March 2020, he established Touchdown Guys, a nonprofit to help challenged youth.
Somehow through it all, Thomas was also “a very present dad” for his family, Kirbi Smith said.
“He always expressed his love. He always made me believe in myself. There was never a day he didn’t text or tell us he loved us.”
Along with Smith, Thomas leaves behind another daughter, Connie Lovelace, and her four children; his sons Christopher Earl Thomas and Earl Lewis Thomas II, and a large extended family. He maintained lifelong relationships with the women in his life, Marie Smith Bass, Rosalind Harris Thomas McRae (both former wives) and Peggy Lovelace Kidd.
His family doesn’t know how Thomas contracted the coronavirus. He was careful; he wore a mask and encouraged others to be safe. In the hospital briefly, he seemed to improve after his first few days. On a Monday, Smith and the nurses discussed releasing him to go home. Then his oxygen levels plummeted. He was rushed to the ICU, and the complications piled up. The nurses held a phone to Thomas’ ears Friday so Smith could talk to him. Saturday, he was gone.
“He loved the Lord. I have comfort in that,” Smith said. “He would want me to tell everyone, ‘Appreciate your family. Tell them you love them, as often as you can.’”