By Mark Eckel
Engagement Insider
You think back on Hollis Thomas, the football player, and you think of the big fella in the middle of the Eagles defensive line with an even bigger smile.
Now you listen to him on Philadelphia sports radio and that same sense of humor and jovial nature comes through the airwaves.
There’s more than the fun and laughter to Thomas. There’s another side, one the Robbinsville (N.J.) High School football team will see this fall.
The caring side, the teaching side, the one who can’t say “no’’ when it comes to helping kids.
So when Thomas’ old friend and former Eagles teammate Irving Fryar, the new Robbinsville High School head football coach, called Thomas wasn’t sure what he wanted, but he answered the call.
“I went to Irv’s church and he said he had something he wanted to ask me,’’ Thomas said. “I thought he wanted a donation, or something. But he asked me if I would be interested (in coaching). Any time anyone asks me to do something with kids, as long as isn’t anything stupid, I’m always willing to do it.’’
Thomas, an undrafted player out of Northern Illinois, signed with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1996, played 10 years with them, three more with the New Orleans Saints and then split his 14th and final season between the St. Louis Rams and Carolina Panthers.
Now when he’s not trading barbs with Angelo Cataldi and WIP’s morning team, or coaching the Arena League’s Philadelphia Soul, he’s Fryar’s right-hand man with the Robbinsville Ravens, running the school team’s defense.
“When I first got (involved in coaching) I was going through that post playing phase where you’re feeling sorry for yourself and you miss the crowd cheering for you and all that,’’ Thomas said. “You have to snap out of that and get busy with the second part of your life.’’
Thomas says while coaching the Soul has been interesting, being on the high school sidelines is what he really likes.
“I don’t like coaching grownups that much,’’ he says with that laugh. “Kids, I enjoy coaching. This isn’t as demanding as the NFL. The way I look at it I already went through the demanding part of my life. Now, I just want to enjoy life and help some kids get to the next level.’’
He did that in Las Vegas where he first moved after his NFL career ended after the 2009 season, starting a program to help high school football players go on to college.
“People think of Vegas and they think of party,’’ Thomas said. “For the kids there’s not much. The kids are the forgotten ones in Vegas. Once you get out of high school in Vegas, you either become a cook, a valet, or you’re cleaning up the hotels.
”We started what we called the Senior Bowl in Vegas, a showcase for high school kids, not the star players, but the average players, got some 1-AA schools, or JUCOs involved, just trying to get them into schools, the next level of their life, so to speak, trying to create productive men in society.’’
Thomas’ story has always been one of the better ones in Eagles lore – one of the undrafted players from a small school, who became a starter on a Super Bowl team and played 14 years in the league. Now, he’s giving back.
“Even if I had been a high draft pick, it wouldn’t have mattered,’’ he said. “I was a child development major. I don’t know exactly what kids think, but I know what it felt like to grow up and I never forgot what it was like growing up and having a grown up talk bad to you, or have a grown up tell you something and you’re saying, ‘I should know all of this stuff? But I’m just a kid. I’m still growing up.’
“I’m pretty much a kid’s lawyer. Kids are going to be kids. They’re going to test things. It’s our job to guide them in the right direction, let them know that’s not the way to go. You don’t have to chastise them every day. I got whippings, which were well deserved, when I was growing up. But you can’t hit kids now, so it’s like you guide them. I don’t know if people realize or not if you yell at a kid, and try to be mega firm and try to be [a jerk] about the whole ordeal it’s just going to drive the kid in another direction.’’
Thomas’ message, the one he relays to the Ravens every day at practice, is simple.
“You make a mistake it’s not the end of the world,’’ he said. “You don’t have to make up for that mistake; just don’t make that same mistake again. Like out here I tell the guys as long as you hustle and you know your assignments you’ll be able to play on my defense.’’
And you’ll learn from the Hollis Thomas you didn’t necessarily see in midnight green, or hear on the radio.
“I’m still the same,’’ he says. “I’m the jovial one. I’m always upbeat about things. I’m always happy.’’
Especially now when he’s teaching kids.