Badger legend and NFL Hall of Fame lineman Joe Thomas talks all things beef and football on “The Todd Allbaugh Show”

WISCONSIN (CIVIC MEDIA) – Host Todd Allbaugh traveled to rural southwestern Wisconsin to sit down with Badger legend and NFL Hall of Famer Joe Thomas to discuss the high-quality beef produced by his company, Hall of Fame Beef, as well as his decorated football career.

Todd kicks things off by prompting Thomas to discuss why a Brookfield native wanted to settle down in southwest Wisconsin to raise cattle on a farm.

“I drove by some farms – looked like they were having a good time out there, when I would drive by – but I was always a country kid, even though I did grow up in the suburbs. For family vacations, what we did is, my dad would take us in the van, we’d drive up to Canada, we’d go fishing, canoeing, camping, up in the Quetico (Provincial Park), in the wilderness up there. So, from when I was a little kid, I was just in love with being outside. I did not want to be inside one second – I wanted to be dirty and I wanted to be sweaty, I would be wrestling my buddies, catching fish.

Once I got to the NFL, I always thought, like, ‘hey, if I could take anything from my career, I want to be able to have a little spot of my own in the country, where I could hunt, fish, take my kids’ and make those amazing memories that families that have the opportunity to get outside and get into the country are able to make, and I found the perfect place.”

Todd jokes that, while most aspiring athletes dream of playing a sport at the professional level, Thomas was dreaming of returning to his Wisconsin roots after his days playing pro football were done. Thomas laughs and agrees. He then describes what it was like experiencing the state’s full beauty for the first time.

“It was funny, because I had a friend who had a farm in Gotham (WI), and I’d never been west of Madison growing up. You know, growing up in the Milwaukee area, it’s pretty flat – not a lot of hills out there. And I didn’t even know that the driftless part of the state existed. I didn’t realize we had hills like this, I didn’t realize we had valleys and trout streams. And it was in college when my friend invited me to out to Gotham, and I drove out here to do some turkey hunting, and I, all of the sudden, hit that first bluff as you leave Madison on Highway 14 going west, and I’m like ‘where did I go? I don’t think I made it all the way out to Colorado. Is this the Rockies?’ And it was at that moment that I was like ‘okay, now I know where I want my farm. If I got a chance to get some land, it’s in the western part of the state.'”

Later in the show, Thomas talks about his physical and mental health after playing a decade in the NFL, and how his road to recovery inspired him to start his company and produce pure, high-quality beef.

“When I retired, my doctor for the Browns said, ‘hey, your knee, it’s not going to get any better because the only thing we can do is give you a knee replacement or you can lose weight’… I want to do whatever it takes to get myself feeling better. Because if I don’t feel well, I’m just going to be grumpy and I’m going to be a terrible dad. I’m going to be a terrible servant to my wife and my communities. And I wanted to make a change. And so I really dove into the wellness and did as much research and studies about, okay, how do I reduce inflammation in my body? How do I eat things that are going to be medicine for my body and make me feel better and not make me feel worse?

So, as I started researching how I could get some pets that I could eat for my children (laughs), which turned out to be cows. I realized like, wow, this is going to be a big difference maker because the commercial box beef that you’re getting at the grocery store or a lot of butcher shops, we don’t know how they were raised. And now that I looked into it, now I’m in the beef business, now I know how they’re raised.

And I’m definitely not buying that stuff anymore because there’s such a difference in the quality when you’re buying from a small family farm when you know what’s being fed to that animal, how they’re being cared for, the animal husbandry, the fact that if you raise beef on a family farm in the driftless like, they know where that animal’s been its whole life.”

Todd and Thomas then talk all things football. Todd asks Thomas to speak on his college career at the University of Wisconsin, and what it was like playing for Wisconsin legend Barry Alvarez, who led the Badgers to three Rose Bowl victories in his 15 years with the university.

“Barry was so awesome to play for, and I just feel so fortunate because I played three years for Barry, and then my last year with Brett Bielema, so I got to see both coaching styles and kind of see the beginning of Brett’s career, and then I was right there at the end of Barry’s career. And I learned so much, not just with football but just being a man, being an adult, taking responsibility, being in charge of your own happiness with Barry.

Because, I always thought that, even when you walked in there as an 18-year-old freshman, he treated you like a man, but then he expected you to do man things, like work your butt off. And, it really taught you that work ethic, taught you what the culture of being a Wisconsin Badger is all about, and taught you about how you go through hard times and adversity, and you pull together, and the meaning of working for not just for yourself, but the team concept of doing something for the man’s that next to you.

Those are lessons that I took through my NFL career that helped me, and then now, they’re the same values and lessons that I’m trying to teach my kids.”

Thomas continues to reflect on Alvarez’s style of coaching and how his values influenced the team.

“Yeah, he was a guy that came to Wisconsin with a vision. He knew what he wanted, and he knew how to get it done, and he knew the guys that he needed to get in there to make it happen. And I mean, they had a lot of turnover. I’m sure in the first couple of years, there was a lot of guys in the team saying, ‘oh, this Barry Alvarez guy, he’ll never work. I can’t play for him. I’m out of here’, right? And that’s just natural when you’re bringing in a new culture, a new way of doing things.

But you have that vision, that unwavering vision of how things have to go. And the type of people that you need, not only just from the player standpoint, but the coaching standpoint, to get to that ultimate goal. And for Barry, it was so important that they were able to turn it around and get to that Rose Bowl and win it. Because then that just proves your theory, not only for everybody else, but for yourself, that this is the right track. These are the things and the values that I need to teach to this team to have consistent success. And then he went on and he did it for a really, really long time.”

There are few professional athletes who can truly be considered an “Iron Man” – an athlete who overcomes injury, illness, and other obstacles to be available on gameday. With 11 seasons and 10,363 consecutive snaps on his resume – an NFL record – Joe Thomas is the embodiment of the Iron Man mentality. Thomas credits his father with teaching him the values he needed to perform at the highest level.

“Yeah, that is the mentality that I had growing up. That’s the values and the perspective that my dad gave me. Like my dad, I think he never missed a day of work in like 20 years. And there was one day in Milwaukee that he told me about when I was a kid where they got like 16 inches of snow. And he was living, I think, in Wauwatosa at the time. And it was like 15 miles to get into the office. And instead of making an excuse and finding a reason why I can’t work, and I can’t get my stuff done today. It’s like, okay, he’s like, ‘I put my cross-country skis on. And I ski to work. I had a backpack with my suit and everything I needed. I got there. And I got my job done.’

And I think it’s interesting. Like when you make that decision, this is what I’m going to do. And I’m not going to let anything stop it. It’s almost a freeing feeling. Because then you don’t have to think about every little thing. ‘Should I do that today? I don’t know. How hard should I work?’ You’re able to just eliminate that from your mind. And it’s like, ‘I’m here to work. I’m here to do the job. Tell me what you need done. And I’m going to do it.’ And I think it’s just a nice, easy feeling, a freedom. And it gives you the ability to just focus on what I have to do. And whatever it takes, I’m going to be the best left tackle I possibly can. I’ll be there every day. And you can count on me.”

Some claim that Joe Thomas was the best left tackle of his time, and that very well may be true – but could he ward off who some consider the best pass-rusher of today, the Cleveland Browns’ very own Myles Garrett? Thomas had no hesitation when giving his answer.

“Yes. I mean, that’s the easiest question we’ll probably get all day,” Thomas laughed.

Editor’s note: Listen in to “The Todd Allbaugh Show” weekdays from 2-4 p.m. on the Civic Media radio network.