Former Detroit Lion and Omega Man Jim Thrower made good on a pledge to do his best in life

A search through pro-football-reference.com reveals that Jim Thrower appeared in 46 National Football League games, including 22 as a member of the Detroit Lions from 1973 through 1974.

During Thrower’s career, which spanned five NFL seasons, teams that he played on tangled against some of the very best opposition in the game. Among those opponents were three eventual Super Bowl champions — the 1970 Baltimore Colts, the 1971 Dallas Cowboys and the 1973 Miami Dolphins.

But on Wednesday afternoon, less than 30 hours before the start of a new NFL season, Thrower recalled a ritual that took place in the locker room at the old Tiger Stadium before Lions home games, which left a lasting impression.

“Before gametime, the owner of the Lions, which was William Clay Ford Sr. at the time, would come into the locker room and speak to the team,” said Thrower, who was listed in the 1973 Lions media guide as second on the depth chart at left cornerback behind the great Lem Barney, a 1992 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee. “The coach would introduce him and Mr. Ford would say: ‘Let’s go out and win this game.’ He ended it by saying: ‘Give me the best that you have and that’s all I can ask of you.’

"And Mr. Ford would always bring his son (Bill Ford Jr.) into the locker room with him. I later realized that he was getting his son ready for the future and I was really impressed by that.”

On Wednesday, the 75-year-old Thrower was more than 2,000 miles away from his northwest Detroit home while attending the 2023 National Black McDonald’s Operators Association (NBMOA) Convention in Las Vegas. He says that lessons learned on the football field helped him to be successful in business. And that success includes 19 McDonald’s restaurants that are currently owned by Thrower’s family in Michigan and New Orleans.

“From football I learned that you really have to give of yourself and be humble,” said Thrower, who entered the NFL the hard way in 1970 as an undrafted free agent with the Philadelphia Eagles after setting a school record with seven interceptions during his senior season at East Texas State. “When I came into camp with Philadelphia, I tried my best to outperform everyone else. During a practice, as a warm-up, we were told to run 30 or 40 yards and I had a coach say: ‘Thrower, this is supposed to be a half-speed drill.’ And I said: ‘This is my half speed.’ There were two things that I knew I could do — run fast and hit hard. And that experience taught me that you had to work hard to reach the top.”

As a defensive back for the Eagles and Lions, taking opportunities away from opposing offense was Thrower’s aim. But his life after football has centered heavily on giving back to Detroit and other communities. In the Aug. 21, 1985, edition of the Detroit Free Press, the late legendary columnist Susan Watson, a 2000 Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame inductee, described Thrower as “the Johnny Appleseed of the NAACP’s fundraising efforts” during a time when Thrower was traveling the country to help NAACP branches raise money for local and national civil rights efforts — while he was on paid leave from the Michigan Consolidated Gas Co., where he was regional manager for public issues and planning.

Thrower’s commitment to community service has continued through the decades as demonstrated by his involvement with numerous charities such as Ronald McDonald House Charities, the United Negro College Fund and the Horatio Williams Foundation, just to name a few.

Thrower’s good works have given people a reason to honor the Camden, Arkansas, native. Honors bestowed on him include the National Urban League’s Distinguished Warrior award, the EMG Foundation Man of the Year and the Brown Bomber Jacket Award, created by the late Ted Talbert to pay tribute to the legacy of the “Brown Bomber” Joe Louis, while honoring individuals who have demonstrated a commitment to community involvement, fairness and outreach with youth.

“From humble beginnings, I have spent my life trying my best to do the right thing,” said Thrower, who grew up in a home directly across the street from a high school that he could not attend because of segregation. “I remember not having much growing up, but I did have two parents — “T.” Eugene Thrower and Gracie Thrower — who worked every day. And living next door to St. James AME Church, the Civil Rights Movement was at the front of everything. It was stressed to us that you must have an education. And all of those things made me want to give back to my community later in life.”

While earning his college education, Thrower said he had another important life experience that perfectly complemented the lessons he learned in the classroom and on the athletic field, when he pledged Omega Psi Phi during his senior year. He became a member of the fraternity’s Theta Theta Chapter at East Texas State, which is now Texas A&M University-Commerce. Today, Thrower is a member of the historic Nu Omega Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc., and on Sept. 16 the chapter will celebrate its 100th anniversary during a “Nu Omega Centennial Black Tie Affair” at Motor City Casino.

“Being an Omega Man has contributed tremendously to everything I have been a part of,” Thrower explained on Wednesday afternoon during a break in activities at the NBMOA Convention. “When you look at 'scholarship' and 'manhood,' and all of the cardinal principles — manhood, scholarship, perseverance and uplift — we’re always looking to connect those principles to everything we do. All of the brothers that are in Nu Omega are committed to the community, and to their families, and most are involved through the church as well. It’s a brotherhood and a big family atmosphere when we come together.”

Thrower also uses the word “family” when talking about his McDonald’s journey. It is a tremendous source of pride that he and his wife, Marla, and their children — James II, Joni, Jamar and Marissa — are McDonald’s owners together through their operating company, Jamjomar Inc. Thrower also described being in a family atmosphere at the NBMOA Convention, which he called a “celebration” of how far Black entrepreneurs have come within McDonald’s and a preview of what can be expected from future Black entrepreneurs.

However, as much as Thrower was enjoying the convention on Wednesday, he confessed, at some point on Thursday, around kick-off time for the Lions opener at Kansas City, he planned to slip away to his quarters within the Four Seasons Hotel to watch his team. And the Lions are indeed Thrower’s team, as a former player, and as a season ticket holder since 1976. On Wednesday, Thrower expressed “confidence” in this year’s edition of the Lions and he also said the word “playoffs” a time or two, and then talked about a “two-year Super Bowl plan.”

The Lions' thrilling 21-20 come-from-behind victory Thursday night against the Kansas City Chiefs, the defending Super Bowl champions no less, certainly made Thrower's forecast look good. But regardless of what this season brings, Thrower has made it clear that his long love affair with Detroit is far from over.

“Detroit has always been good to me,” said Thrower, who got his first taste of Detroit as a youngster while living on the city’s east side (Belvidere and Charlevoix) with his grandparents, Marvin and Leonia Browning, while attending kindergarten and first grade before he went back to Arkansas. “We no longer own the McDonald’s at the corner of Mack and I-75, but that was our first one (in 1989) and that was the mothership.

“Golightly (Education Center), Sacred Heart Church, what was then the Brewster Projects, friends and former Lions players, they all came out and supported that McDonald's like you wouldn’t believe. And the community is still supporting us today.”

Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and lifelong lover of Detroit culture in all of its diverse forms. In his second tour with the Free Press, which he grew up reading as a child, he is excited and humbled to cover the city’s neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its various communities. Contact him at: stalley@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep. Read more of Scott's stories at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/. Please help us grow great community-focused journalism by becoming a subscriber

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Hard work and service is a winning plan for former Lion Jim Thrower