The Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2023 Enshrinement ceremony takes place in Canton, Ohio on Saturday, Aug. 5, and Joe Thomas will be one of the nine people inducted in this year’s class. Because of the impact he made while playing offensive line for the Cleveland Browns, Thomas will be the last one to be inducted and give his Hall of Fame speech. PopCulture.com spoke exclusively to Thomas about closing out this year’s ceremony.
“Being the only Cleveland Brown, and the first member of the new Cleveland Browns since they came back in 1999, I kind of had a hunch that they would stick me last as the closer,” Thomas exclusively told PopCulture. “So I’ve been ready for that since the official announcement that I was going to be in the Hall of Fame, and I’m not exactly sure how I’m going to be able to handle it. ‘Cause I know that I’m going to be overcome with emotions, but I also want to make sure that I leave that entire Hall of Fame audience with something special, and give the people in Cleveland something to be proud of.”
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Thomas, 38, played his entire career (2007-2017) in Cleveland and was arguably the best offensive lineman in the 2010s. Along with making the NFL 2010 All-Decade Team, Thomas was selected to the Pro Bowl 10 times, made the All-Pro Team eight times and holds the NFL record for most consecutive snaps played (10,363).
The only thing Thomas didn’t accomplish is win a Super Bowl as the Browns never reached the playoffs when he was with the team. But that doesn’t mean Thomas didn’t enjoy his time in Cleveland. “I had some good memories, even though we didn’t have a lot of playoff games or championships when I was there in Cleveland, we still had some fun games,” Thomas said. “So I think the one game that always sticks out the most is when, in December of 2007, we were playing the Buffalo Bills, and we got seven inches of snow in the first half. And in that first half, we got so much snow, it was a whiteout, that you could barely move the football, you couldn’t throw. Our kicker was trying to kick the ball, and he would start it towards the sideline, and somehow he made two field goals that looked like huge bananas. We ended up winning that game eight to zero. There was no touchdown scored because the weather was so crazy. We got a safety and two field goals.
“But it just reminded me of the fun I used to have as a kid growing up in Wisconsin, and going outside in January during winter break, throwing the football around, and getting tackled in snowbanks. I think it was that game that kind of reminded me of the feelings that I got when I was a kid when I started playing football.”
Thomas is one of the most beloved figures in Cleveland sports history, which has led to him being named among the city’s greats. Sporting News recently released its GOAT Mountain of Sports for Cleveland, and Thomas made the list along with Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians (now Cleveland Guardians), LeBron James, who spent most of his career with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the late Jim Brown who, like Thomas, spent his entire career with the Browns.
“I thought that being named in the NFL Hall of Fame was going to be the most shocking thing that happened to me this year, the most humbling,” Thomas said. “But being on Cleveland’s Mount Rushmore for Athletes is, I think, surpassing that, because you name Jim Brown, greatest football player ever, that’s not a quarterback. LeBron James, greatest basketball player of all time. Bob Feller, one of the greatest baseball players of all time. And so just having my name bounced around and kicked around with those guys is an unbelievable, indescribable feeling.”
