Jon Thomas: Playing Big –
Heart, Determination and Faith
By Dan Wilkes
Asst. AD/Media Relations
Jon Thomas never recalls a moment in his life where he was the biggest guy in a room, let alone the biggest one on the football field or the wrestling mat.
At least in stature.
"I joke with my teammates all the time that I'm not very big height-wise, but I'm bigger than them all in heart," said Thomas, who at five feet, six inches tall and 154 pounds doesn't dot a very big "i" among his peers on the Pittsburg State University football team. "I may be little, but I like to think I play big."
Thomas, a junior from Raytown, Mo., played as big as any of the Gorillas last Saturday (Aug. 28) in Pitt State's season-opening 31-20 road win over the University of Central Oklahoma.
He compiled 222 all-purpose yards in the contest, including an electrifying 84-yard punt return that gave the Gorillas their first points of the game (and season) and a 28-yard third-quarter touchdown catch that helped the squad battle back from a 14-7 halftime deficit.
For his efforts, Thomas garnered MIAA Special Teams Player of the Week honors.
The high points to Thomas' night overshadowed the rough start that he and his Gorilla teammates endured.
After holding UCO to a three-and-out on the Bronchos first offensive series, Thomas attempted to return a punt. With pursuers bearing down on him he elected to field the ball but had it immediately jarred loose. The Bronchos recovered on the PSU 20 and scored three plays later.
After the ensuing kickoff, Thomas and quarterback Zac Dickey failed to cleanly exchange the ball on an end sweep. UCO recovered again in PSU territory but the Gorilla defense registered the first of five interceptions in the game to negate the scoring threat.
One series later, Thomas popped the team's first punt return for a touchdown in 10 seasons, drawing Pitt State back into a 7-7 tie with the Bronchos. The 84 yards he covered on the play were two fewer than the school record return of 86 yards accomplished by former Gorilla Rod Commons in 1969.
"I was more relieved than excited when I returned the punt for the touchdown," Thomas said of the momentum-shifting play. "I just felt so awful about how the game got started — that I had let our team down. It just felt good to help the team — to contribute."
Thomas never has been afraid to take on any role to contribute since walking onto the team as a freshman in 2007 and evolving into a front line player four years later. In addition to his role as a starting wide receiver, he returns kickoffs and punts, and he holds the ball on PAT and field goal attempts.
As a redshirt freshman in 2008, he lined up as a defensive end and blocked a punt (and recovered the ball) against MIAA rival Truman.
"I can long snap too," he's quick to point out with a chuckle.
And Thomas is quick to give credit to his biggest fan, his father Greg, for helping him develop a variety of football skills.
"My Dad was my coach from day one," Thomas said. "I credit him with stressing learning every position, working on every skill."
His diminutive stature certainly forced Thomas to try and outwork his peers. Especially when he first started wrestling at age three. He lost every match his first year. By the time he completed high school at Christ Prep Academy in Kansas City, Mo., he was an undefeated champion his senior year.
"I wanted to quit wrestling and play basketball in seventh grade, but Dad wouldn't let me," Thomas recalled. "I'm so thankful now. Wrestling helps develop core strength and balance. You don't have to be the strongest guy in the weight room if you learn how to use your strength and power. I carried a lot of that over to the football field, I think."
Ephesians 2:8-9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast.
Thomas sports the contemplative Biblical passage on the back flap of his shoulder pads.
It reminds him that everything from playing football, to living life and enjoying friends and family, to a person’s ultimate salvation are all gifts from God.
Thomas witnessed that reality first-hand just weeks before reporting to preseason camp. Every summer he attends FCA Camp to serve as a huddle leader to attending youth. On a hot July day, the campers went swimming at a public pool in Pella, Iowa. Two teenagers went into the deep end of the pool. They didn't resurface until lifeguards pulled them from the water. With Thomas and others watching and aiding in rescue efforts, the two youngsters lives expired.
"It was very sad. God's plan isn't always easily revealed," Thomas said. "It makes you look at your own life and take advantage of what you're given. I live for Christ. I try to just enrich people's lives, whether it's making them laugh or smile, or by helping in other ways.
“When I die, I don't want to be known as just a Pitt State football player. I also want to leave a legacy behind that points people to Jesus Christ by living my life as Jesus did."
In the mean time, Thomas, who sports a 3.59 grade-point-average as a construction engineering technology major, is excited about the prospects for the Gorillas. The 2010 squad mirrors his "blue collar" work ethic, in his opinion. After battling through the school's first losing season in 2009, Pitt State has journeyed on a fresh start — with a new head coach in former offensive coordinator Tim Beck and 27 new players (redshirts or transfers) who played their first games in a Gorilla uniform against UCO last week.
"Like Coach Beck said before the UCO game, our preparations started nine-and-a-half months ago to get to this point in time," Thomas said. "Last year, we won our first two games but then I think we got full of ourselves. When we lost for the first time we began to come unraveled.
"Hopefully when we face adversity this year we won't let that happen again. I hope we play with big hearts."
Thomas will.