The Bills honor Thurman Thomas by retiring No. 34
The Bills honor Thurman Thomas by retiring No. 34
Thurman Thomas recalled a phone call he received a couple of weeks ago from former Buffalo Bills teammate Bruce Smith.
"Do you know what it means to have your jersey removed?" Smith asked Thomas. "Do you realize the importance?"
"Now," Thomas told an exhausted crowd at New Era Field on Monday night. "Now that I'm here with you, I realize even more."
The Bills retired No. 34 of Thomas during a halftime Buffalo game against the New England Patriots. He is the third player in the history of the Bills to receive the honor. Jim Kelly had his No. 12 retired in 2001, and Smith's No. 78 was retired in 2016.
With the lights off in the sold-out stadium, the highlights of the Thomas Hall of Fame race were shown on the video scoreboard, while two spotlights projected 34s on the field.
ESPN retired announcer Chris Berman introduced Thomas, whose family joined him on a raised platform in the midfield. His name and number were announced on a wall on the eastern end.
"When I look up and see that number 34 is removed with my name, they remind me that the number does not just belong to me," Thomas said. "He belongs to the fans of the Bills everywhere."
Kelly and Smith were among several former teammates who witnessed the ceremony on the field. Hall of Fame trainer Marv Levy and former general manager Bill Polian were also part of the group.
Earl Campbell, one of two Hall of Fame runners, along with Walter Payton, who inspired Thomas to use No. 34, recorded a video message for the ceremony.
Thomas played 12 of his 13 seasons in Buffalo and is the all-time leader of the franchise in rushing yards (11,938) and yards since scrimmage (16,279). He was chosen as the NFL MVP and Offensive Player of the Year in 1991 and led the league in yards since the start in four consecutive 1989-92 seasons.
The Bills put Thomas on his Wall of Fame in 2005, two years before he was included in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Nine other players have used the No. 34 for the Bills, including Cookie Gilchrist, the 1962 American Football League MVP and the star of the Buffalo AFL championship team in 1964.
Oklahoma State College and Willowridge High School in Houston have also honored Thomas by retiring No. 34.
---
More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/tag/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP-NFL
.
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',
'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js');
fbq('init', '369524843414444');
fbq('track', 'PageView');
.
SOURCE LINK ERESVIRAL.COM https://www.beviral.online
Comentarios
Publicar un comentario