University of Tennessee Athletics
Former Letterman Dan Thomas Passes Away
August 01, 2012 | Men's Basketball
Aug. 1, 2012
Former Tennessee basketball letterman Rev. Dr. Daniel Rees Thomas Jr., of Brunswick, Ga., passed away earlier this year. A native of Knoxville, Tenn., Thomas was a member of the Volunteers varsity basketball team under head coach John Mauer in the early 1940s after enrolling at UT in 1942 at the age of 15.
Thomas, who was born on Feb. 28, 1927, and graduated from Knoxville High School, also served as president of UT's Sigma Nu fraternity during his days on Rocky Top and was active with the university's YMCA and Westminster Fellowship. There was no university basketball team during the 1943-44 season due to World War II.
Interestingly, Thomas also was a member of the United States volleyball team that toured Europe in 1948 to encourage inclusion of the sport in the Olympics.
He received his bachelor's degree of divinity from Union Theological Seminary in 1950 and his doctorate of ministry degree from McCormick Seminary in 1985.
Thomas served as Presbyterian pastor for campus ministry at the University of Kentucky from 1950-52. He next served as pastor of Banner Elk Presbyterian Church in Banner Elk, N.C., and several nearby chapels until 1964. He was a Bible instructor at Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk from 1956-61. In 1964, he became assistant pastor and minister of education at Reid Memorial Presbyterian Church in Augusta, Ga. He was pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Brunswick, Ga., from 196-90, when he retired, and he was honored as pastor emeritus of that church in 2010. In 1991, he became pastor of visitation at Riverside Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville, Fla., a ministry in which he served until he retired again in 2011.
During his career in ministry, Thomas served in various roles with Presbyteries, Synods, the Presbyterian General Assembly and ministerial associations. He also was involved in civic activities, including service with the Mental Health Association of Glynn County, the Mental Health Association of Georgia, the Glynn County chapter of the American Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, Hospice of the Golden Isles and the Exchange Club of Brunswick.
Thomas is survived by his wife of 61 years, Doris Turner Thomas, three children and a granddaughter.
