The story of Joe Thomas Sr. is one of resilience and overcoming the odds. Thomas, who is more than 30 years older than any of his teammates, is getting a second chance to play a young man’s game — a chance the sharecropper’s son missed out on in his youth.
55-year-old Joe Thomas Sr. just carried the ball in an actual Division I football game
Senior day indeed.
Thomas was raised in Blackville, South Carolina, a small town about 40 minutes from Orangeburg, where South Carolina State’s campus is located. Throughout his childhood, Thomas was partially deaf, but a doctor helped him clear his ears when he was 17. During his junior and senior seasons at Blackville High School, he was a star defensive lineman and a promising running back. But he did not get the opportunity to play college football.
Officially, there’s no telling if he’s the oldest Division I football player ever, but we’re pretty confident in saying he is.
He has practiced with the team for four years, and on senior day he got his shot.
Thomas’s son, Joe Jr., played for South Carolina State, and the original plan was for father and son to play on the field together. But Joe Sr. was in a car crash during the 2013 season and suffered a knee injury. After that season, Joe Jr. went to the Green Bay Packers.
Joe Sr. came close to playing earlier this season, but on an aptly named day, the moment was right.
Thomas Sr. as strictly a scout team player had never appeared on an official S.C. State roster until Saturday.
“He would come to practice for a week, then skip three weeks,” an S.C. State official said. “He wasn’t really on the team, per se.”
The NCAA cleared Thomas Sr. to play two weeks ago and head coach Buddy Pough hoped to get him in last week against Norfolk State. But the home game, which S.C. State lost, was too close, the coaching staff determined. They decided to wait until Senior Day for Thomas Sr.’s debut.
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