An All-American honorable mention defensive back on the 1983 PCC football team, Eric Thomas owed his future success to that sport, but his biggest accomplishments for the Lancers came in track and field. Thomas helped PCC win the 1984 state team track and field championship (the last time any men's sport won a state team title) under head coach Skip Robinson. Thomas won the state long jump crown with a leap of 25 feet, 4 inches and he was a member of the gold medal 4x100 relay squad at 39.89 seconds. That is still the second fastest mark in PCC history. Thomas leapt 25-6-1/2 that year in an earlier meet to put him third all-time for Lancers leapers. Thomas earned a football scholarship to Tulane University. In 1987, he was the 49th overall choice in the second round of the NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals. Thomas played nine seasons in the NFL for three teams and was an All-Pro selection in 1988. That season, the Bengals won the AFC Central and advanced to the Super Bowl before losing to San Francisco.