Derrick Thomas was one of the greatest linebackers of all-time. Spending his entire career with the Kansas City Chiefs, Thomas was the anchor of many great Chiefs’ defenses and finished his career with 126.5 sacks, 41 forced fumbles and four defensive touchdowns. Sadly, Thomas’ career and life ended following a motor vehicle accident on January 23, 2000 that left him paralyzed from the chest down. As a result of a blood clot that traveled from his legs to his lungs, Thomas passed away on February 8, 2000.

     Thomas wore this red Kansas City Chiefs helmet during the 1996 season where he had 13 sacks and 47 solo tackles as the Chiefs finished with a 9-7 record. This Riddell helmet has a white facemask and “RIDDELL” in red on a white backing that connects the facemask to the helmet. The Chief’s tomahawk logo is affixed to each side of the helmet and the NFL shield and WARNING stickers are adhered to the back. Thomas signed this helmet and inscribed “To Reggie, God Bless, 2-4-96” and “2-4-96” on the Chief’s logo and gifted this helmet to Hall of Famer Reggie White. Thomas’s number “58” has been stickered in white on the interior and this helmet shows moderate to heavy game use and comes with a full hard plastic chin strap. This helmet comes with a LOA from Mears and a Letter of Provenance from the Reggie White Estate for the game use and a LOA from JSA (Y37098).

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