High School and College
Thomas attended Groveton High School in Groveton, TX. He enjoyed a record-breaking career at Groveton, leading the Indians to two Class 2A state titles, while gaining 8,441 yards (third best in national high school history at the time, currently third best in state history behind Ken Hall and Wes Danaher) and scoring 115 touchdowns. As a senior at Groveton, Thomas rushed for an incredible 3,701 yards (second best in state history). He was the first Texas running back to rush for 100 yards in all 16 games (the most a Texas high school can play during the season), accomplished in 1990.
The highly-recruited Thomas chose to attend Texas A&M after high school. He rushed for almost 300 yards as a freshman and then compiled very consistent rushing totals his final 3 years in College Station: 856, 996, and 868 yards and became only the fourth Aggie to rush from more than 3,000 career yards. He was a two-time, consensus All-Southwest Conference selection and his 45 career touchdowns tied Darren Lewis for the most in Texas A&M history.
During Thomas’ career at A&M, the Aggies led the Southwest Conference in rushing four consecutive seasons as Thomas formed a powerful combination with future NFL backs Greg Hill and Leeland McElroy. Thomas' teams also established school records for most points in a season twiceand never lost a game at Kyle Field and never lost to a conference opponent (28-0-1). He is Texas A&M's 4th all-time leading rusher and is 2nd all-time in rushing touchdowns.
Thomas is remembered by many Aggie fans as much for what he did off the field as for what he did on it. He was an active member of service organization Aggie Athletes Involved, and was awarded the Southwest Conference American Airlines Spirit Award. He was honored by his teammates as the 1994 winner of the Aggie Heart Award, the highest honor for a Texas A&M senior football player. The Heart Award is presented to a senior who has completed his eligibility and displays the following intangibles: effort, desire, determination, competitiveness, leadership, and courage. The award is voted upon by the entire team.
Thomas was also well known by fellow students for an incident in Cain Hall, the then athletic dormitory at Texas A&M. When a malfunction in a soft drink machine resulted in cans being dispensed without change being inserted into the machine, Thomas decided to intervene. Although he came from relatively modest means, he took his own change and reimbursed the machine for all of the drinks that had been taken.
Read more about this topic: Rodney Thomas
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