Joseph Hayden “Joe” Thomas

Born in Brookfield on December 4, 1984, he grew up in the Elmbrook schools—Hillside Elementary, Wisconsin Hills Middle, and Brookfield Central, class of 2003—where classmates and coaches already called the oversized lineman Big Foot. His mother, Sally, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that opposing grade-school soccer coaches once shouted to get her son off the field because he looked too big to belong. He did belong: honor roll all four years, football, basketball, and track, and co-Defensive Player of the Year for the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association in 2002 while also playing tackle, tight end, fullback, kicker, and punter.

As a senior he won Division 1 state titles in the shot put (62 feet 1½ inches) and the discus (185-6), and he closed four years of Lancer basketball with twenty points in a state-quarterfinal loss to Fond du Lac. At Wisconsin he became an All-American left tackle. On draft weekend in 2007 he skipped New York and went fishing with his father, Eric, a banker who had not missed a day of work in thirty-nine years; the Cleveland Browns called the boat and made him their first-round pick. He played his entire NFL career in Cleveland, starting every game and setting a franchise ironman mark of 10,363 consecutive snaps before retirement and induction into the Hall of Fame in Canton.

Brookfield still claims the hometown chapter. In 2020 Brookfield Central named its stadium Harrison-Thomas Stadium for Thomas and 1996 Olympic champion Kenny Harrison. He has credited coaches Bruce Follo, Scott Nelson, Mark Pulkownik, and Mark Adams by name. He lives in Madison now; the field named for him remains in Brookfield.