K-Gun10 Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 Alex Van Pelt’s amazing story of a night with Derrick Thomas Bills VP of Player Personnel John Guy is not the only person in the Bills organization that had a close tie to Kansas City Chiefs Hall of Famer Derrick Thomas. Bills QBs coach Alex Van Pelt was his teammate for six months with the Chiefs when he was their fourth string quarterback in their 1994 training camp. Van Pelt couldn’t say enough good things about the kind of teammate Thomas was even to the guy that sat fourth on the depth chart at QB. And Van Pelt also has a special story that illustrates how Thomas would go the extra mile to make a teammate or friend happy. Here it is in Alex’s own words. “Derrick was awesome,” said Van Pelt. ”Derrick was one of those guys that cared about everybody on the team. It didn’t matter if you were the fourth quarterback, which I was. He would come out in the preseason games when it was my turn to go in and catch balls to warm me up. He was encouraging and a great teammate. “We’re leaving River Falls, Wisconsin when we break camp and we’re flying back on the plane to Kansas City. And we had talked about country music before and he knew I was a big Hank Williams Jr. fan. So he comes up to me on the plan and he says, ‘You know I like Hank Williams Jr.? Hank is playing in Wichita tonight, do you want to go?’ “And I said, ‘Absolutely.’ And he told me he’d come by the hotel and pick me up. So we drive an hour to Wichita, and I asked him, ‘Do we have tickets?’ And he said, ‘We don’t need tickets.’ And I’m thinking, ‘Okay, he’s Derrick Thomas, I guess he won’t need a ticket.’ (more at link) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lofton80 Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 Great read. Good for AVP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Jack Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 Great read. Good for AVP Agreed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
San Jose Bills Fan Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 I like to believe that good things happen to good people (although ironically Derrick Thomas died tragically). What I'm trying to say is that I've heard Derrick Thomas was a special person. And I think the story indirectly says a lot about the type of person that Alex Van Pelt is also. This sort of thing doesn't happen to a-holes does it? I sure hope not. Kudos to DT and to The Pill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts