After graduating high school 38 years ago, Joe Thomas Sr. finally fulfilled his dream of playing in a college football game

Thomas Sr, father of Packers’Joe Thomas Jr, became the oldest college football player to play a division I game with this 3-yard carry during today’s South Carolina State-Savannah State game.

Via SI.COM

Thomas was raised in Blackville, South Carolina, a small town about 40 minutes from Orangeburg, where South Carolina State’s campus is located. Throughout his childhood, Thomas was partially deaf, but a doctor helped him clear his ears when he was 17. During his junior and senior seasons at Blackville High School, he was a star defensive lineman and a promising running back. But he did not get the opportunity to play college football.

When Thomas’s son, Joe Thomas Jr.—who now plays for the Green Bay Packers—enrolled at South Carolina State, Thomas Sr. decided to join him in the classroom and on the football field. Although he never had the opportunity to play in a game with his son, Thomas Sr. stuck with the football team with the hopes of getting in a game. On Saturday, he accomplished that goal.