Thomas wrestled at Castro Valley High School where he was a three-time H.A.A.L. Champion, and team captain. He was undefeated in league competition his junior and senior years. He placed second in the CIF-NCS Championships his junior year and first his senior year. Thomas was a three-time state qualifier and placed fifth in the CIF State Championships his senior year. After winning the AAU Junior Olympics in 1976, Thomas was invited to and trained at the 1976 Olympic training camp in Brockport State N.Y.   In 2016 Thomas was inducted into the Castro Valley Sports Foundation Hall of Fame for his outstanding wrestling, football, and track & field career at Castro Valley High School as well as his coaching career at Mission San Jose High School.

Thomas continued his wrestling career at Chabot College under legendary coach Zack Papachristos. While wrestling for Chabot College, Thomas accumulated a 50-4 career record. He had 9 individual tournament titles, and he placed second his freshman year and first his sophomore year in the Northern California Tournament. Thomas placed fifth in the Junior College State Wrestling Championships his Sophomore year. In 1978 & 1979 he was named Northern California Wrestler of the Year. Thomas has also been inducted into the Chabot College Athletics Hall of Fame. He returned to playing football at Cal State Hayward for three years where he was a second-team all-conference defensive lineman and team captain for two years. He graduated from CSUH with a physical education degree and later returned to CSUH to get his Masters's Degree in Kinesiology. 

Thomas coached at Mission San Jose High School in Fremont for the 38 years where his teams won three league titles and placed in the top ten at the CIF-NCS Championships ten times. He had a team dual meet record of 176-70-1. His teams have been named the CIF-NCS team scholarship champions ten times and the CIF State Academic Champions four times. He has coached two CIF State Champions, ten CIF State Placers, sixteen CIF-NCS Champions, 142 CIF-NCS place winners, three All-Americans, and one National High School place winner. 

Thomas has hosted the prestigious Mission San Jose Invitational for the past thirty-eight years. He was the NCS Honor Coach for wrestling in 1999. Thomas has served on the CIF Wrestling State Advisory Board for four years and the NCS Wrestling Advisory Board for ten years. He was named the NCS Athletic Director of the Year in 2005 and the California Coaches Association State Athletic Director of the Year in 2014. He was most recently (2016) inducted into the California Wrestling Hall of Fame.