CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – If you’re one of the hundreds that have reached out to Joe Thomas since last Thursday night, be patient.
The newly elected Hall of Famer will get back to you – at some point.
“I've never had so many text messages in my inbox,” Thomas said Wednesday.
The reality of being elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame has set in for Thomas, who made 10 Pro Bowls and was named to eight All-Pro teams during his distinguished 11-season career with the Cleveland Browns.
The one thing Thomas hasn’t gotten over is the reaction from his kids when Hall of Famer Walter Jones knocked on his door in late January at his home in Wisconsin.
“The fact that I was caught off guard, Walter Jones was standing at my door, my kids were there and saw him first because they thought that their friends were at the door and then they come running back into the kitchen where my wife and I were standing and my son tells me, ‘Daddy, we made it,’” Thomas said, “and instantly, it just knocked me off of my feet emotionally to know that my wildest dreams of playing football and getting into the NFL were never this great and the fact that my idol told my son who told me the great news just made it even better than I could have ever scripted.”
Thomas has watched that video on repeat over 100 times and he still gets emotional when talking about reliving that moment.
“Anybody who's a parent, they understand, especially now that I'm retired,” Thomas said. “For them to have emotion and excitement makes it so much more special for me.”
Jones, A.K.A. Thomas’ “man crush” and idol as a player, knocked on Thomas’ door January 27 after his wife, Annie, was able to secretly arrange the visit.
“I wasn't prepared at all,” Thomas said. “I assumed wrongly that ‘The Knock’ would come pretty close to the Super Bowl because I figured that they wanted to keep the window of time between telling guys and the actual announcement as short as possible so that it doesn’t leak out. My wife did a great job setting this up. My kids didn’t know. I didn’t know. When it happened, it caught me off guard, and I am glad it happened like that because I think if they would have done it in the old style where they bring you to the Super Bowl, they put you in a hotel and you are sitting there – I felt comfortable with my résumé – I know some guys talk about how nerve-racking it is and things like that, but I felt good about what I had done as an NFL player to be eligible for the Hall of Fame. Now, you never know for sure like what is going to happen, but I think if you would have said, ‘Hey, within the next 24 hours they are going to tell you,’ I probably wouldn’t have been as excited or as emotional.”
With the excitement of the Hall of Fame announcement during Super Bowl week behind him, now the planning for induction weekend begins.
Last Saturday in Arizona, Thomas was fitted for his gold jacket, ring and bust.
Thomas will be the 18th Cleveland Brown enshrined in Canton but he’s yet to pick a presenter for his induction.
“One of the misses from this past weekend is I really wanted to spend some time talking to the other Hall of Famers and ask them about who did you decide to be your presenter and why? And I forgot because I got a little bit sidetracked,” Thomas said. “I was sort of in awe out of a lot of these guys and so I haven't made a decision and I haven't really even spent enough time thinking about it to have narrowed it down. So that's definitely on my to-do list.”
Thomas has plenty of options to choose from. He blocked for an NFL record 20 different starting quarterbacks and played for six head coaches and seven general managers throughout his career in Cleveland.
The Browns volatility made it difficult for Thomas to share significant and meaningful amounts of time with teammates over the years which makes the process of picking a presenter even more intriguing.
“I know for some guys – the few guys that I have talked to about it – it was really obvious because they had one person who was in their life their entire NFL career, whether it be an owner, a coach, sometimes a teammate or a friend, and it was sort of a no-brainer for them,” Thomas said. “For a guy who had nine offensive coordinators, two owners, six head coaches and like a revolving door of quarterbacks, I have had a lot of people who have touched my life and have been a huge part of this journey for me so I think that makes it a little challenging to kind of narrow it down and figure out who is that one person who I want to make sure is presenting me and that I would be the most excited about having up on stage.”