When the on Monday, it was a celebration of the team’s accomplishments on the field. An honor for beating the Carolina Panthers to win Super Bowl 50.
But for one member of the squad, the meeting had an even more special meaning. Denver wide receiver Demaryius Thomas had one message to the president: Thanks, Obama.
In July 2015, whose punishments, he said, did not fit their crimes. One of the them was Katina Stuckey Smith, Thomas’ mother.
“We talked for a quick second,” Thomas said. “I told him, ‘I thank you for what you’ve done for my family.’”
Obama remembered giving Thomas’ mother clemency, the receiver said: “He held me back for a little second. Everybody was going by shaking his hand, and we had like a 45-second conversation. So it was cool.”
Smith and Thomas’ grandmother, Minnie Pearl Thomas, began serving their sentences in a federal prison in Tallahassee, Fla., in February 2000 for drug trafficking. Minnie was given two life sentences.
Demaryius Thomas has officially asked for clemency for his grandmother, as well.
“We talked about my grandmother. Had the application to get everything done, and he’s looking into that, as well,” he said.
