Macon TD Club welcomes native and Super Bowl winner J.T. Thomas

            The day after the Pittsburgh Steelers were on Sunday Night Football, the Macon Touchdown Club welcomes a four-time Super Bowl-winning Steeler in J.T. Thomas.

            Mount de Sales is the featured high school team.

            Thomas is a Macon native who played at Lanier under legendary head coach Goot Steiner. After earning All-State honors, he became Florida State's first African-American football player.

            Thomas was picked by Pittsburgh in the first round of the 1973 draft. He helped the Steelers to Super Bowl titles for the 1974 and 1975 seasons, getting a career-high five interceptions in 1974. He earned Pro Bowl hoors in 1976, and sat out 1978 with blood disorder Boeck's sarcoid.

            He was traded to Denver in 1982, his final season.

            Thomas has been a businessman in western Pennsylvania since retiring. He and former Pittsburgh teammate Larry Brown owned 14 Applebee's for several years, and he owned a Chinese restaurant, a Burger King, and a Southern restaurant called Red Hot and Blue, plus the Black and Gold Cheesecake Company.

            Thomas became a franchise owner for Crazy Mocha Coffee in recent years and is a consultant for entrepreneurs in the food service industry.

            This is the final meeting of the season. The annual jamboree is scheduled for Feb. 2, and Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn is penned in as the guest speaker.

            The club meets at the Methodist Home for Children and Youth, in the Rumford Center, at 304 Pierce Ave. It starts at 6:30 p.m. with dinner and the program to begin around 7. Cost is $30 for non-members, who needn't be accompanied by a member.

            For more info, http://www.macontouchdownclub.com.