After playing 12 seasons for the Buffalo Bills, Thurman Thomas did the unthinkable, signing with the rival Miami Dolphins for a season.

Call it spite after being cut by the Bills in a salary cap purge after the 1999 season. Call it refusing to answer the door when Father Time came calling.

After that one year in aqua and white, however, Thomas made amends with Bills fans, signing a one-day contract so he could retire a Bill.

"If you ever cut me open I'd bleed red white and blue and that will never change," Thomas said.

Thomas' standing as a die-in-the-wool Buffalo Bill will be solidified this fall when he becomes the 22nd member of the team's Wall of Fame at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

Thomas, the club's all-time career rushing leader with 11,938 yards, was a unanimous selection by the Wall committee in his first year of eligibility and joins teammates Jim Kelly, Kent Hull, Jim Ritcher and coach Marv Levy as members of the Wall from Buffalo's Super Bowl era.

Fittingly, Thomas has chosen to be inducted on Oct. 9 when the Bills play host to the Dolphins, a team Thomas always seemed to have spectacular games against.

"Obviously, it's a special time for me. It's one last hurrah with the Bills fans where I can walk on the field and give my speech," Thomas said. "It will be exciting. Maybe I'll talk to the guys before the game and get them fired up a little bit more to renew the rivalry."

Thomas was a lock for Buffalo's Wall just as he'll be for the Pro Football Hall of Fame next year. He retired fourth on the NFL's all-time combined yardage list with 16,532, led the league in combined yardage a record four years in a row (1989, '90, '91, '92), and scored 21 playoff touchdowns, second behind only Jerry Rice's 22 in NFL history.

Mostly, Thomas' story is one of inspiration. He was a second-round pick in 1998 out of Oklahoma State even though he was good enough to keep a guy named Barry Sanders on the bench. A knee injured scared away every team accept Buffalo, which didn't have a first-round pick that year and pulled the trigger on Thomas with the 40th overall pick.

"He was a difference maker," Bills owner Ralph Wilson said.

It was Wilson who gave the go-ahead to then-GM Bill Polian to draft Thomas. Wilson spoke with team doctor Richard Weiss first.

"I talked to Dr. Weiss and said, 'What do you think of this guy, Dick? How long do you think he can last, everybody's flunked him?' He said, 'I think we can get two years out of him.' I said, 'Heck, he could get hurt falling over the water bucket, let's take him.' " Thomas, who lives in Orlando with his wife, Pattie, and four children, has expanded his business interests to include a print shop and he regularly gives talks to schoolchildren. He has a lot to offer and a lot to say.

Thomas is a recovering alcoholic who said he has been sober for 6 1/2 months. He's a member of Alcoholics Anonymous.

"With the printing business and Thurman Thomas Enterprises, I'm staying busy," Thomas said. "I'm at my office almost everyday or doing stuff with the kids. It's been good but it's still a struggle every time I wake up every day. It's been 6 months but its still a struggle. I try to stay away from going to golf tournaments. I try to stay away from just going out period. It will be a struggle for the rest of my life. But like they say in the A.A. meetings you have to take it one day at a time and that's what I've been doing."

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