Leaders and Best in 50 States: A-Train Edition
MGoBlue.com continues its Leaders and Best in 50 States [plus DC and PR] today with the selections to represent Kentucky, Tennessee and my dad's home state, Louisiana.
Today's selections include none other than the A-Train, Anthony Thomas who beats out (among other notables) Leroy Hoard and James Hall, Bubba Paris, All-American OT and three time Super Bowl champion with the San Francisco 49ers 1980s dynasty, and Davis Tarwater. In addition to the accomplishments noted in the piece, Tarwater was a member of the USA's champion Men's 4×200 metre freestyle relay at the 2009 FINA World Championships.
Thomas played for the Bears, Cowboys, Saints and Bills during his seven year NFL career and last played in 2007. His career NFL stats:
|
Rushing |
Receiving |
||||||||
|
Att |
Yds |
Avg |
Lng |
TD |
Rec |
Yds |
Avg |
Lng |
TD |
|
1,044 |
3,891 |
3.7 |
67 |
23 |
113 |
756 |
6.7 |
30 |
1 |
| KENTUCKY: Bubba Paris |
 Bubba Paris (Louisville)Football • William "Bubba" Paris (1978-81) earned All-America and All-Big Ten honors in 1981. As a professional, he won three Super Bowls and earned the team's MVP award over star quarterback Joe Montana and the rest of his teammates in 1987. Honorable Mention • Ray Baer, Football • Emily Brunemann, Women's Swimming & Diving • Jamie Fielding, Women's Tennis • Sharon Park, Women's Golf • Edliff Slaughter, Football |
| TENNESSEE: Davis Tarwater |
 Davis Tarwater (Knoxville)Men's Swimming • Davis Tarwater (2003-06) was a three-time NCAA champion, 13-time All-American, six-time Big Ten champion, and still holds the 200-yard butterfly record at Michigan. Honorable Mention • Henry Fonde, Football • Mindy Gehrs, Women's Swimming & Diving • Marian Kramer, Women's Tennis • Kenny Keener, Men's Gymnastics |
| LOUISIANA: Anthony Thomas |
 Anthony Thomas (Winnfield)Football • Running back Anthony Thomas (1997-2000) graduated as Michigan's all-time leading rusher (4,472 yards - currently ranks second) and remains U-M's career rushing touchdown leader with 55 scores. Honorable Mention • Ronald Bellamy, Football • James Hall, Football • Leroy Hoard, Football • Adam Kraus, Football • Wayne Miller, Men's Gymnastics |
Wolverine Historian's sterling tribute to the A-Train:
never was there a cooler nickname than "The A-Train".
I love the A-Train and I appreciate all that he accomplished. And I know that it is unfair to remember him for one play but I can't help thinking about that damn 1996 Northwestern game every time his name comes up. There are only a few "I remember where I was" moments for a Michigan loss forever etched in my memory, and that game is one of them.
I think that you meant the 2000 Northwestern Game.
I do remember where I was. When? Not so much.
Those Northwestern losses all kind of blend together. Unfortunately, I do also remember where I was for that 1996 game.
One of the interesting aspects of watching the '97 games on BTN lately has been seeing the freshman A-Train action before he was so nicknamed.. The flash moments were there in the ND, OSU and Rose Bowl games.
Now A-Train was 6-1, 220 lbs. Michael Cox, and Stephen Hopkins are both close to that metric. I would like to see some emergence in that space this fall. Smith being the back with glimmers last season, but more on the ninja prototype, than the A-Train prototype.
We need both ninjas and trains IMO.
I am really liking this feature from mgoblue. I especially like that they're not focusing solely on the big time sports.
Excellent choices so far for all states. I look forward to seeing who was chosen each day, and I'm very excited to see who they choose for Michigan and Ohio.
I loved him at Michigan, and also when he came to my Bears. He was a class act, and a good back (Last NFL game i bought, NFL 2K3... i'm not a gamer, he was the Bears running back and a good one)
Train won offensive Rookie of the Year, and also was just a great person. I remember reading in the Trib about how he and David Terrel were driving home from a practice and A-Train pulled over and pulled a man out of a burning car on the side of the road. Terrel went to the press with the story, Train was just humble and thought "why wouldnt I? It was the right thing to do"
A great back and a better person. It's been great to see him around the program at the Alumni games these past few years
Edit: After watching the highlights, another thing I always appreciated about Thomas - he acted like he'd been there before after touchdowns. He was supposed to score. It wasn't something special, he didnt need to celebrate, give the ball to the official, a couple high fives, and back to it. Love it.
I used to remark after every ho-hum run by A-Train that he had a remarkable ability to fall forward for an extra few yards. Not like Hart, who had to scrape for those last yards. Thomas was just so top-heavy, had such high acceleration versus low top speed, and ran so high that when someone inevitably caught up to him, the momentum was always good for extra yards. Ron Dayne was kind of similar, except Dayne was harder to bring down, and didn't have A-Train's great first step.
In retrospect, he probably wasn't as good of a back as Chris Perry, or even Hart. Those offensive lines he ran behind, as you can see in the video, did a lot of the work for him (like when Shea ate three defenders). But for the first three of my college years, he was certainly my favorite player.