Pro Football Hall of Fame LB Zach Thomas
(Can you sort of take us through this day? What’s your day been like today? I’m sure it’s been pretty remarkable.) – “Oh, man. It’s amazing. I’m just a small-town kid from West Texas, and for me to be here with all these greats and legends that I used to watch and even play with, it’s just an honor. It’s humbling and I’m just so grateful for everybody that helped me along the way because you’re not self-made, but to look back when I was eight years old and just to – it would be a huge dream for me just to make it to the NFL, but to end up being a Hall of Famer is crazy, man. It’s crazy when I think about it. I’m proud to represent all our defense. We had those great defenses when I played and I owe it to all those guys. I guess somebody has to get the credit. My d-line did all the work and I’ll take the credit (laughter). But I know this, is I’m so grateful for those guys, the linebackers that I played side by side. It was just a fun journey and it’s a humbling honor for me, but I’m just so grateful just to even get this far.”
(I know a lot of people have questions, but before I let you go and you move on, have you decided – I know it’s sudden – but have you decided on a presenter yet?) – “Who would be your guess?”
(Jimmy Johnson?) – “Yes, sir. Yes, sir. All day long. He’s a guy that gave me a start my rookie year from the get-go. He threw me in the mix from the get-go. I was there for special teams. Mike Westhoff helped out in getting me there, but Jimmy (Johnson) put trust in me before we even played a football game. We played a preseason game and he was like, ‘all right, you’re going to be starting.’ And he told me, ‘don’t let me down.’ And I never wanted to let him down because of that start, because man, I was a longshot. I never got the respect I felt like I needed and that’s my motivation. But for being my size most of the way because I didn’t fit the part, it gives hope to those kids that don’t fit the part, that are undersized. They could end up a Hall of Famer one day if you just believe in yourself and bet on yourself and I feel like that’s what I did. But I’m lucky to have some bad asses around me my whole career. It’s crazy how grateful I am for that.”
(Congratulations. Well-deserved and long overdue.) – “Man, I’ll tell you what. I know you didn’t ask a question, but ‘deserved.’ It’s a team game and like I said, you’re only as good as what’s around you and I had some great players around me. But like I said, I’ll take the credit.”
(There’s video circulating of the moment when you found out you were in the Hall and it’s Jimmy Johnson breaking the news to you. Can you describe the emotions of receiving that welcome surprise and for it to be Coach Jimmy Johnson?) – “Oh man, it was powerful. I went to lunch with my mom and I didn’t even think they even voted on it yet. So I come home and I’m walking up the stairs and I see Jimmy in a gold jacket just standing there and man, I broke down. I cried, even thinking about it now, and I really appreciate that guy. It’s crazy how you’ve got to rely on so many other things and choices of a coach because I would have went anywhere else and it might not have been the right system for me. It might not have been the right coach for me. They might not have taken a chance on me. Jimmy was a guy that did, and so for him to be there, that was wild, man. I’ll remember that for the rest of my life and for my family to be there, too, because my kids really didn’t get to ever see me play unless it’s old tape. But for them to be there for that moment was special.”
(Did you kind of have an inkling that maybe this was the year for you? This was your fourth straight year as a finalist?) – “I never did. I try not to look at all the guys because all of them are deserving, even the finalists. I definitely wasn’t surprised, but I am grateful that I got this opportunity to get in because it’s hard to get in. It’s very hard and I’m finally in. You can’t take me out so I’m very blessed.”
(Did you kind of have an inkling that maybe this was the year for you? This was your fourth straight year as a finalist.) – “I never did. I try not to look at all of the guys because all of them are deserving, even the finalists. I definitely am not surprised. But I am grateful that I got this opportunity to get in because it’s hard to get in. It’s very hard. I’m finally in, man. You can’t take me out. I’m very blessed.”
(At what point, either late in your career or after your career, did the thought of ‘Maybe I have a shot at getting into the Hall of Fame one day,’ start to appear?) – “Once I started seeing some of the guys get in, I said ‘Man, I’m going to have a chance.’ And once you get into the finalists and you’re a finalist year after year, you get more of a chance. So I was very grateful for that. But I started feeling like I was inching closer and closer every time I was a finalist. My family, I would let them vent one day if I didn’t make it. And that’s it. Because the game has been so good to me. I’m never going to be ungrateful, even if I never made the Hall of Fame, because it’s so good to me. It’s set me for life, man. So again, for me to be up here and represent the former teammates that I had, I don’t know if they’re going to give us enough time for all of the guys that I owe in the induction speech now that they’ve shrunk it down to 10 minutes. But I’ll try my best because that defense we had from Sam (Madison) to Pat (Surtain) to ‘JT’ (Jason Taylor), Trace (Armstrong), ‘Tim-Bo’ (Tim Bowens), the interior with ‘Big Shorty’ (Daryl Gardener), Robert Jones – the linebackers, Derrick Rodgers, Morlon Greenwood. We just had so many great players around me. Brock Marion. It’s special. I know I’m probably leaving so many guys out that played a part in helping me get all the way here because it is a team game.”
(So many great players have played the game. So many great players have played your position. What was it, do you think, about the way you played football that will enable you to have this permanent honor and to be enshrined in Canton?) – “Well like I said earlier, I didn’t fit the part. I’m in the middle of the defense. You’re supposed to be the Dick Butkus, Brian Urlacher type look. And I didn’t fit that part. I feel like the one thing I will say that was really good of mine was my prep. My pre-snap was really good. Towards the end of my career – it wasn’t great from the beginning. But once you start fine-tuning everything – I was so happy and so confident going into every game (in my) later years. You just get smarter. You get more efficient with your time. You get smarter. That’s why pretty much walkthrough was so important to me before even a live practice when it came to preparing. Everybody kind of overlooks walkthrough. Because my alignment is what won for me. I’ve got to give myself the best chance and if you just get lined up right, your odds of winning on that play go up. I think that’s where I felt like I won was my pre-snap … That was it. That was one thing that I felt like – you’ve got the quarterback as the quarterback of the offense and I was the quarterback of the defense. To get our team lined up pre-snap, that was big and underrated because nobody knows when you line up right or wrong besides the coaches. That was the one thing that I took a lot of pride in. I’m getting us aligned right. And if they come out in a certain formation, it’s all about keeping yourself out of a bad play than not just trying to win every play. It’s keeping yourself out of a play. So for me, that’s what I miss the most and that’s what I feel like was underappreciated was my pre-snap and how I lined my guys up once they came out with the formation.”
