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55-year-old Joe Thomas becomes oldest player to play DI college football

Nick Bromberg
·College football and motorsports writer

South Carolina State running back Joe Thomas set a college football record against Savannah State.

With his first-half carry on Saturday, the 55-year-old Thomas is presumed to be the oldest player to play in either the FCS or FBS level of college football.

And Thomas’ appearance means he’ll be the answer to another trivia question too. His son, Joe Thomas Jr., — a graduate of South Carolina State — plays for the Green Bay Packers.

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From Sports Illustrated’s profile of Thomas earlier this week:

Joe Sr. helped his son make a highlight reel and used some connections to give him a shot as a walk on at South Carolina State. It was a good project for Joe Sr., as the Great Recession was gnawing Thomas Enterprise down to just him. He fell behind on his house payments, sold his rental properties to survive and couldn’t find work that didn’t demand a college degree. One day in spring 2012, he came home and asked [wife] Sarah to help him fill out a college application, then drove to Orangeburg to ask Joe Jr. if he’d be okay with his father joining him at college.

Thomas Sr. joined the team as a walk-on in 2012 when his son was still a member, but he tore his ACL and MCL in a car crash. He missed the 2013 season and even filed for bankruptcy as well. And then in 2014 he missed the year because of a sciatic nerve problem.

But he stuck with it and received an academic waiver to appear in a game earlier this year.

Before Thomas made his appearance Saturday, the previous oldest player to appear in a Division I game was former South Carolina wide receiver Tim Frisby.

Frisby joined the Gamecocks in 2004 as a 39-year-old receiver and caught a nine-yard pass in 2005.

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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!