With a Three-Yard Carry, SC State Running Back Became Oldest D1 Football Player at The Age of 55

Breaking: 55-year-old Joe Thomas Sr becomes oldest DI football player after rushing for 3 yds for @SCStateAthletic. @wachfox pic.twitter.com/eyoSMpZDBK
— Mike Uva (@Mike_Uva) November 19, 2016

Senior Day doesn't necessarily mean it's for senior citizens, but 55-year-old South Carolina State running back Joe Thomas Sr is still a decade away from that anyway.

Today, Thomas surely must have become the oldest D1 football player ever—though there's no real telling, as NCAA doesn't keep age record—with a three-yard carry in the first quarter, thus fulfilling his lifelong dream to play college football.

.@SCStateAthletic RB Joe Thomas Sr. made history today. At age 55, he's the oldest man to ever play in a Division I football game. pic.twitter.com/vQKZ5uU3u5
— Mike Gillespie (@MikeABCColumbia) November 19, 2016

Thomas initially enrolled in SC State with hopes of playing with his son, but Joe Thomas Jr went on to play with the Green Bay Packers starting in 2014—before Joe Thomas Sr could make it on the field with him. But Joe Thomas Sr stuck around and practiced with the team for the majority of four seasons. Today, SC State coach Oliver Pough felt it was time, and put him in against Savannah State, and he held his own—even after taking a fairly rough hit. (Well, relatively.)

From Sports Illustrated, who ran a profile on him earlier this week:

Thomas was raised in Blackville, South Carolina, a small town about 40 minutes from Orangeburg, where South Carolina State's campus is located. Throughout his childhood, Thomas was partially deaf, but a doctor helped him clear his ears when he was 17. During his junior and senior seasons at Blackville High School, he was a star defensive lineman and a promising running back. But he did not get the opportunity to play college football.

It's kind of like a bizarro world version of Rudy—but it's just as heartwarming, if not moreso.