Tampa Sports Personality Chris Thomas: 1948-2004

rokrok
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I know only about 1% of you will know who I am talking about with Chris Thomas, but he first got his job as TV sports reporter in Tampa at Channel 8 in 1988, when I started high school and was just beginning to get football obsessed. He was named Maryland sports reporter of the year before getting hired by WFLA, and they announced his arrival for WEEKS before his first debut. To this day, I still remember the dopey commercials for "Chris Thomas is crazy about sports" and then taking a bit out of a baseball or whatever (hell, it was the late 80's... what do you expect).



All i could think was "All this for a sports reporter? Who CARES?!?!"



Well, SIXTEEN years later, the entire Tampa Bay area cares. He lost his battle with cancer recently, and I only accidentally found out about it today, as I was hunting around on some bay area news sites for Bucs draft info. (for those who don't recall, I grew up and lived in Tampa from 5 years old until I was 20. I have been following my wife's career and where it takes her ever since).



But in a stupid way, I grew up with this guy. When the Bucs were so, so, so, so very terrible, his was the ONLY report you wanted to listen to to hear him rip either amusingly or brutally into the Bucs and their ownership (Culverhouse or Glazer -- it didn't matter). Then when Arena Football came to town, Chris was merciless for years about this fake brand of football, until he realized that this may be the ONLY winning football franchise the bay area may ever had. And heck, the fans enjoyed it, and that's what he really cared about.



He stayed on Channel 8 until 2002 -- FOURTEEN YEARS, until he went back to radio broadcasting, and had a semi-successful two year run as a horse owner to boot.



But hell, you don't have to listen to ME wax poetic about this guy, just tune in here (requires RealPlayer)...



WFLA Channel 8 remembers Chris Thomas



Yes, his early days had gimmicks a-plenty. Channel 8 paid a lot for him, and like I said, hyped him a lot, so the first 4-6 years of his work were laden with gimmicks to get him over, but amidst all the tomfoolery, he was about the only genuine person I have EVER seen on the evening news. And he brought out an authenticity in everyone else on the set. The crew at Channel 8 has only changed slightly since his arrival, and I think his spirit is what held them together for so long.



Anyway, just watch the video if you want, or read the excerpts from Tampa sports managers, reporters and fans.



So, a sports reporter many of you never knew, and likely don't care about, was a damn fine person, and is now missed by a lot of folks. No one has to reply to this thread... I mean, if you don't know the guy, a few short montages aren't going to give you a whole lot of insight, but he managed an attachment with an entire area through the one-way looking glass that is TV. That's not easy, folks.



Like my dad, at least he lived to see the bucs win the super bowl.
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