Former Washington running back Duane Thomas died last week. Thomas was age 77.
Thomas came to Washington to play for the Redskins under quite unusual circumstances.
Just saw Duane Thomas passed away at the age of 77. He is best known for being a tough runner with the Dallas Cowboys, but he also played for Washington in 1973 and 1974. He wanted more money and didn't report to camp in summer of 1975 and George Allen waived him… pic.twitter.com/acZzetK1CR
— Dave Scarangella (@DaveScarangella) August 7, 2024
Dallas already possessed the talents of running back Calvin Hill, yet when the Cowboys announced their first-round pick of 1970, the name was running back Duane Thomas.
The Cowboys were right; Thomas was better and the starter. At 6-1, 220, Thomas was such a smooth runner that critics sometimes said he wasn’t running hard. Yet, when watching replays, one observes him making people miss and running by many, as he led the NFL, averaging 5.3 yards per carry his rookie season.
Though he led Dallas in rushing his first two seasons and led the Cowboys to two Super Bowls, he was unhappy. For instance, Thomas refused to talk in team meetings and to the press covering the NFL. He referred to then-Dallas head coach Tom Landry as ‘the plastic man.’
Once when a reporter referred to the Super Bowl as the ultimate NFL game, Thomas replied back defiantly, “If it’s the ultimate game, how come they’re playing it again next year?”
Thomas gained 95 yards, leading the Cowboys to their 24-3 win over the Dolphins in Super Bowl VI. However, because of the way he treated the media, they took out their revenge, refusing to vote for Thomas as the Super Bowl MVP.
Landry had endured enough throughout that 1971 season and had Thomas traded in the offseason. However, he would not play for the Chargers or anyone else in the 1972 season.
We’re saddened to learn of the death of former Cowboys running back Duane Thomas.
The hometown native – who went to school in West Texas State – played a pivotal role in his first two years in Dallas, helping America’s Team clinch back-to-back Super Bowl berths and winning… pic.twitter.com/1LFjazHeX6
— Four Verts 🏈 (@FourVerticals_) August 6, 2024
In 1973 Thomas’ value was plunging, yet Redskins head coach George Allen came to rescue the Chargers. Teams loved trading with the desperate Allen, always willing to over trade draft pick(s) for another veteran.
So Allen traded a round one and round two choice to the Chargers for the troubled, moody Thomas. Then Allen proceeded to continue to run Larry Brown into the ground, cutting his career short, only having Thomas carry the ball 32 times for 95 yards in 1973.
In 1974, Thomas carried the ball 95 times for 347 yards and five rushing touchdowns. But that was it for Thomas, as the Redskins cut him during the 1975 training camp. He never played another NFL game.
Perhaps most interesting was Thomas’s arrival in Washington. He learned no one else was wearing his old number, which he had worn as a Cowboy, so he requested it, No. 33.
However, Washington had unofficially retired No. 33, and no one had worn it since Hall of Famer Sammy Baugh. The story goes that someone from the team informed Thomas that they had contacted Baugh, requesting if Thomas could wear No. 33, but Baugh refused.
Baugh, when hearing of this, strongly rejected the narrative, declaring he had not been contacted and that if Thomas wanted to wear No. 33, Baugh was fine with it. But, Thomas was given No. 47 and wore it both of his two seasons with the Redskins.