Inducted 1998. Three-Sport Standout Went on to Enjoy Lengthy Professional Soccer Career.
Thomas is being honored for his outstanding accomplishments at the prep, college and professional levels in soccer, but it is easy to forget he was a talented three-sport standout during his days at Quincy Notre Dame.
He was a two-year letter winner on the boys basketball team, averaging 6.6 points as a senior. He was also a success on the baseball diamond, hitting better than .400 as a senior and earning co-Player of the Year honors from the Quincy Herald-Whig.
However, most of his athletic honors were earned on the soccer field. He scored nine goals as a sophomore for the Raiders, who reached the state tournament quarterfinals in 1983. He earned all-state honors as a junior the following season, scoring 26 goals and assisting on nine others as he helped QND reach the 1984 state championship game, where it lost to Palatine Fremd in a penalty-kick shootout after playing eight overtimes.
Thomas suffered a severe ankle injury in the second game of his senior year, and though he was an all-stater, he scored just 11 goals. However, he scored four of the Raiders’ six goals in the 1985 state tournament, which ended with Notre Dame being the smallest school ever to win the single-class state title.
Thomas then attended Quincy University, where he was twice named the Hawks’ most valuable player and was twice named to the All-Midwest team. He is seventh on the school’s all-time scoring list with 45 goals, and his 18 goals in 1989 are the most by a Hawk in the past 17 years.
His professional career started in 1990 when he was selected by the MISL’s St. Louis Storm and the NPSL’s Chicago Power. He has since played for the Milwaukee Wave in 1990, the Kansas City Attack in 1991, the Cleveland Crunch from 1992-1994, the Sacramento Knights from 1994-1998 and the Cincinnati Silverbacks in 1996. He was selected by the expansion Florida Thundercats of the NPSL for the 1998-99 season.
He holds CISL records for goals in a game (7) and consecutive games played (70). He was a CISL All-Star in 1997 and helped Cleveland win the NPSL title in 1994. He has more than 300 goals and 200 assists in his professional career. He has also represented the United States twice in international competition.
Thomas now resides in Plantation, Fla.