Thurman Thomas Thurman Lee Thomas ( born May 16 , 1966 ) is a former American college and professional football player who was a running back who spent most of his National Football League ( NFL ) career with the Buffalo Bills . Thomas was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2007 and into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008 . Thomas was an important part of the Bills " no - huddle offense " that won 4 consecutive AFC championships , but the Bills fell in the Super Bowl every year . Early years . Thomas was born in Houston , Texas . He grew up playing football on the Missouri City Junior High School ( now Missouri City Middle School ) and Willowridge High School . College career . Thomas attended college at Oklahoma State University where he was a teammate of running back Barry Sanders . At Oklahoma State , Thomas had 897 rushes for 4 , 595 yards , 43 touchdowns , 5 , 146 total yards , and 21 100 - yard rushing games . He was also a Heisman Trophy candidate in his senior year , finishing seventh in voting . He was a first team selection on the College Football All - America Team in 1985 and 1987 . In the 1987 Sun Bowl , Thomas ran for 157 yards and four touchdowns in the 35 - 33 victory over West Virginia , keeping freshman Barry Sanders on the sidelines for the majority of the game . Thomas left OSU as the school ' s all - time leading rusher and his number 34 is one of only three jerseys retired at Oklahoma State . Professional career . A knee injury damaged Thomas ' s certain first round pick status and caused him to slip into second round ( 40th overall ) of the 1988 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills , their first choice in the draft . Thomas is well known as part of the offense that included Jim Kelly and Andre Reed , which led the Bills to four straight Super Bowl appearances . Thomas was the AFC rushing leader in 1990 , 1991 , and 1993 . In the first three seasons of his career , Thomas had a total of 12 games with at least 100 yards rushing . The Bills won every one of those games . In 1989 and 1990 , his combined total yards from scrimmage was 3 , 742 . This was more than 200 yards better than any other player in the NFL . He was voted to the All - Pro team in 1990 and 1991 , was selected to 5 straight Pro Bowl s from 1989 – 1993 , and was named NFL ' s Most Valuable Player in 1991 , after becoming the 11th player in NFL history to finish a season with over 2 , 000 all - purpose yards . Currently , he is 12th on the NFL all - time list for most rushing yards in a career . Thomas currently holds the all - time Buffalo Bills rushing record with 11 , 938 yards and the team record for yards from scrimmage with 16 , 279 over 12 years . He is also 4th overall in team scoring . Overall , Thomas finished his 13 seasons ( his 13th season he played for Miami ) with 12 , 074 rushing yards , 472 receptions for 4 , 458 yards , and 88 touchdowns ( 65 rushing and 23 receiving ) with 16 , 532 total yards from scrimmage . Thomas is the only player in NFL history to lead the league in total yards from scrimmage for four consecutive seasons . He is one of only six running backs to have over 400 receptions and 10 , 000 yards rushing . Walter Payton , Marshall Faulk , Marcus Allen , Tiki Barber , and LaDainian Tomlinson are the other five . Thomas is also one of five running backs to have rushed for over 1 , 000 yards in 8 consecutive seasons along with Curtis Martin , Barry Sanders , Emmitt Smith and Tomlinson . Thomas also set NFL playoff records with the most career points ( 126 ) , touchdowns ( 21 ) , and consecutive playoff games with a touchdown ( 9 ) . Overall , he rushed for 1 , 442 yards and caught 76 passes for 672 yards in his 21 postseason games . In a 1989 playoff loss to the Cleveland Browns , Thomas recorded 13 receptions for 150 yards and 2 touchdowns , which was a postseason record for receptions by a running back and tied tight end Kellen Winslow ' s record for most receptions in a playoff game . At the time of his retirement , his 76 postseason receptions ranked him 4th all time , and to this day he remains the only running back among the NFL ' s top 10 leaders in that category . Thurman Thomas played for the Buffalo Bills for 12 seasons . When the Bills ran out of money under their salary cap in 2000 , Thomas signed with the arch - rival Miami Dolphins . He suffered a knee injury on November 12 , 2000 against the San Diego Chargers which ended his NFL career . After deciding to retire , Thurman signed a one - day contract on February 27 , 2001 with Buffalo so that he could retire as a Bill . Thurman Thomas was first eligible for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006 . In that year , he made it to the list of ten finalists , but was not one of the six players elected to the Hall that year . He was selected on February 3 , 2007 , to be inducted into the Hall of Fame . Super Bowl XXV . Thomas had an outstanding performance in Super Bowl XXV , rushing for 135 yards and a touchdown , while also catching 5 passes for 55 yards . He would have almost certainly won the Super Bowl MVP award , but his team lost the game 20 - 19 when kicker Scott Norwood missed a 47 yard field goal attempt with 8 seconds remaining . Some fans and sports writers , such as Sports Illustrated writer Paul Zimmerman , have argued that Thomas had the best performance of the game , so therefore he should have won the MVP award even though his team lost . He had far more yards and catches than New York Giants running back Ottis Anderson , who won the MVP , finishing the game with 102 rushing yards , 1 reception for 7 yards , and a touchdown . Also a player winning the Super Bowl MVP award on a losing team is not unprecedented ; Chuck Howley accomplished this feat in Super Bowl V . His performance in the Bills other posteseason games that year were also superb . He rushed for a total of 255 yards , caught 8 passes for 99 yards , and scored 3 touchdowns in their 2 playoff games prior to the Super Bowl . Super Bowl XXVI . Thomas is noted for a mishap in Super Bowl XXVI . Thomas had a pre - game ritual where he placed his helmet at the 34 - yard line . His helmet was moved in order for the stage to be set up for Harry Connick , Jr . to perform the national anthem . This caused Thomas to miss Buffalo ' s first two offensive plays . He went on to gain just 13 rushing yards and a touchdown on 10 carries . He also caught 4 passes for 27 yards . On August 8 , 2009 , during teammate Bruce Smith ' s Hall of Fame induction speech , while he was acknowledging his relationship with Thomas , Bruce proclaimed " I hid your helmet ! " . Following the ceremony on NFL Total Access , Bruce indicated this was merely a joke . Super Bowl XXVII . For the second year in a row , Thomas had a dismal performance in the Super Bowl . He scored the first points of the game for his team on a 2 - yard touchdown run , but was limited to just 19 rushing yards on 11 carries and 4 receptions for 10 yards in Buffalo ' s 52 - 17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys . He also committed a costly fumble that was converted into a Dallas touchdown . However , Thomas was still recovering from a hip injury he suffered in the first game of the postseason . As a result , running back Kenneth Davis got the majority of carries in the game . Super Bowl XXVIII . Thomas had yet another disappointing Super Bowl performance in this game , which the Bills lost to the Cowboys 30 - 13 . He scored the only touchdown of the game for his team , but was limited to just 37 rushing yards on 16 carries . He was a reliable target as a receiver out of the backfield , catching 7 passes for 52 yards but he lost 2 fumbles that led to 10 Dallas points . The second fumble came at the start of the second half , and it was returned for a game tying touchdown that swung the momentum for the Cowboys . Pro Football Hall of Fame . On February 3 , 2007 , Thomas was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame . Thomas joined his former quarterback Jim Kelly and wide receiver James Lofton in the Hall . Thomas was enshrined into the Hall of Fame during the weekend of August 4 – 5 , 2007 . Personal . Thomas moved back to Buffalo in 2007 with his wife , Patti and three daughters , Olivia , Angel , and Annika , and one son , Thurman III . He is the President and CEO of Thurman Thomas Sports Training in Elma , New York . His oldest daughter , Olivia , attends school at the University of Florida in Gainesville . In 2008 , Thomas acquired a share of the Rochester Raiders indoor football team , and will also be collaborating with the other Raiders owners to bring an af2 team to Buffalo in 2009 . The ownership group is also said to be recruiting Jim Kelly as a part - owner of the Buffalo franchise . In 2010 , Thomas started his own energy company , the Thurman Thomas Global Energy Group . In 2010 , Thomas made phone calls in support of New York State Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino . Thomas , a registered Republican , has no stated desire to run for office himself , as he feels that such a move would prompt inquiries into his personal life that he feels are disrespectful .