Jim Thomas (gridiron football)
Jim "Long Gone" Thomas with the Edmonton Eskimos. Thomas ran for 6,161 yards in his CFL career and was a two-time CFL All-Star. He signed to the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League in 1970 for a five-game trial, but returned to Edmonton.
Thomas holds the record for the three longest rushing touchdowns in Eskimos history—a 104-yard run on October 9, 1965 against the BC Lions, a 100-yard run on August 2, 1966 against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and a 97-yard run on September 4, 1964 against the Ottawa Rough Riders.
Thomas attended R. E. Hunt High School in Columbus, Mississippi, a segregated school for blacks only. He attended college at Mississippi Industrial College in Holly Springs, Mississippi.
After his playing career was over, Thomas earned a master's degree from Southwestern Oklahoma State University. He coached in college at Southwestern Oklahoma State and the University of Mississippi as well as Noxubee County High School, Houston High School, and in Memphis before winding up at Mississippi Valley State University.
Thomas died in 2015.Head coaching record
