CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – For Pro Football Hall of Fame finalists, there has been no more tense moment than waiting in a hotel room for “the knock.”
This year the hall switched it up.
Newly minted Browns Hall of Famer Joe Thomas told the story of his door knock, which came two weeks ago at his home in Wisconsin, on the Ken Carman Show with Anthony Lima Friday morning on 92.3 The Fan.
“My wife was the only one that knew about it,” Thomas said. “She set me up and said we were going out to dinner with the neighbors, which would've been a great time by itself. And when I heard the knock, I thought it was my kids' friends that were at the front door.”
Instead, it was his idol – Hall of Famer Walter Jones to welcome him to Canton.
“Once it sunk in and I turned the corner, I see big Walter Jones, Hall of Famer left tackle from the Seahawks who was kind of my idol growing up,” Thomas said. “I walked out, I opened the door and he just goes, welcome home Joe. And gives me a big hug. And I just started crying, man.”
Thomas, who played his entire 11-year career in Cleveland, held back tears as he described the moment to Carman and Lima. That fact sunk in Thursday night as he started doing post announcement interviews in the media room backstage.
“A lot of the Browns Hall of Famers, and we've got a lot of 'em and they're all amazing, but a lot of 'em have played for other teams,” Thomas said. “And so I imagine as a fan base, you feel like you kind of share 'em a little bit. Even me growing up, I always tell everybody my idols are Reggie White and Brett Favre because that's when I was in middle school when they won the Super Bowl…But those dudes, I feel as a Packer fan deep inside of me. I still have to share Reggie White. He was an Eagle then he became a Packer right after. He was a Falcon then. He was a Packer then. And that is crazy to me, to think as a Browns fan myself, to be a Hall of Famer that the Browns fans can say he played his whole career right there. And that's special. And we don't share him with anybody. That's really neat.”
After taking the stage at NFL Honors as a member of the Hall of Fame Class of 2023, Thomas reflected on the after party and the Hall of Famers he got to hang out with and is now in the same class with.
“It's been incredible, and I think it's one of those things where you're trying to soak it all in, but you really can't. It's just completely overwhelming,” Thomas said. “As we were leaving honors last night at about 10 o'clock, and you're walking out and you leave the same entrance as all these dudes that with Gold Jacket that I run into – Barry Sanders and Joe Namath and Jimmy Johnson, and it's like all the dudes that I remember when I was a kid watching or hearing stories about or seeing the old NFL reels, the NFL films reels of Joe Montana and Joe Namath and you're trying to comprehend why security hasn't tackled you because in your mind you feel like you've stuck backstage at the coolest party in the world and for some reason these guys are letting you take a picture with him. And it's just such a weird kid in the candy store feeling that it's almost impossible to describe how excited I was.”
Thomas was a 10-time Pro Bowler and eight-time All-Pro, who endured nine last place finishes, six head coaches and 20 starting quarterbacks with the Browns.
His dependability, durability and dominance on the field made him legendary.
“I felt like my resume stacked up pretty well against other Hall of Famers and so I felt pretty good about my chances of getting in,” Thomas said.
Thomas set a modern NFL record by playing 10,363 consecutive snaps over 167 games in his career but it takes more than just the player to become a Hall of Famer.
“You think about, all right, this is my life, this is my career up to this point, and it's ended in the Hall of Fame in the NFL, which is the greatest individual achievement you can get as a football player,” Thomas said. “But I look at this line, this string of a thousand dominoes, and every one of those dominoes represents a player, a teammate, a coach, a parent, a teacher, a family member, a mentor. And you think about maybe this story is different, maybe I don't end up here if you just pull one of those dominoes and that person wasn't part of your life.”
Thomas will now go through a six-hour process to be sized up for his bust, ring and gold jacket on Saturday. If he has a choice, Thomas would like his bust to be reflective of his playing career. Since his retirement, Thomas has lost the weight he no longer needs to hold off defenders.
“I would like the bust of when I was playing because I don't look like a player anymore,” Thomas said. “Maybe more like an equipment manager with big ears and a weird looking head, but I would think if they gave you the choice, I'm not sure if they do, just don't make me look like Ronaldo.”