No one is able to jump so much to take a thousand pesetas ticket from the upper corner of the basketball board. He could do it. Charles Ray Thomas was a star of FC Barcelona in the seventies. His game was unique and his unmatched jump, it seemed that he flew towards the basket. Shortly after his life was truncated by an injury, he gave himself to the bad life and disappeared. Fruit of a rumor, in 1984 his murder was announced and they all gave him dead. But his story does not end here.
Four years ago, the former pivot of FC Barcelona and friend of Thomas, also North American Norman Carmichael, received a call from Charles himself who made all the conjectures about his whereabouts fly through the air. His disappearance for years had been a fact, but his alleged death was only a feeding news by bad tongues. The reality is that Thomas has been in an internal decades in a yellow geriatric, northwest of the state of Texas, in Uniods states.
Now, the documentary Temps Mort ‘of Fèlix Colomer portrays the life of Charles Thomas and puts light and an end point to the professional and personal history of the player, wrapped by his mysterious disappearance, through the investigation of the journalist Carlos Jiménez. This true crimeafter presenting in Docs Barcelona, this room arrives this Friday and will be available on the 3CAT platform, one of the documentary producers. It recounts thomas’s decline, rumors about his state once missing and unravels everything that happened with his fictitious death.
The Barca legend
“I could jump a lot, it took off from the ground.” This is how Carmichael speaks in the documentary of what was his teammate and friend.Charles Thomas arrived in Spain by the hand of Ramón Ciurana, in charge of capturing players, and began his journey at the Sant Josep de badalona.Shortly after,his talent made that in a couple of years,in 1972,his journey began in FC Barcelona and became the top scorer of the Spanish League in his first two years wearing the Barca shirt.
The life of the African American began to be filled with successes, both professionally and personally. He managed to be one of the players of the moment, had two children – carlos and Matson – with Lynda, his girlfriend since the 21 years from which he separated some time later, and even met Salvador Dalí.
All those luxuries and the promising race of Charles Ray Thomas were interrupted by a knee injury during a match. That was the turning point that gave rise to the decline of the then best basketball player in the Spanish League. In 1976 he began his recovery in Manresa, but as it was a more limited, humble club and that Thomas could barely jump, he only played nine games.That was the last period in which it would be seen on a basketball track.
The strange disappearance
The withdrawal of basketball,added to the knee injury,was the drop that filled the glass. He was mired inside a spiral of addiction to certain narcotic substances that ended with how little left that star flew on the court.
“How can it be that such a virtuous man for sport and so dear dies murdered in this way?” Matson Thomas, one of Charles’s children, wondered before knowing the truth. The former basketball player decided to disappear for reasons that are unknown, even leaving his family aside and cutting any interaction with his surroundings.
“We didn’t know who was or where,it simply disappeared,” Norman Carmichael stands out in the documentary. The rumors said that they had found him begging at the Mexico City airport and that he was physically deteriorated. After announcing their disappearance,the conspiracy theories surrounded their figure: since it was a death due to a shooting in New York,until overdose death,as well as fights and assaults in a supermarket.
But none of that. The former FC Barcelona player decided to leave Spain and returned to the United States.Once in American territory, he began to live as a synthesch, and wandered through the streets of New York. “It was truly terrifying, especially winter nights, where you had to find a place out there and the wind blew strongly, he recalls,” he recalls.
Charles Thomas: From Desert Loneliness to Unexpected NBA Connection
In a story that echoes the unpredictable nature of life itself, Charles Thomas’s journey took him from a solitary existence to an unexpected connection within the NBA sphere. For four decades, Thomas described his life as a lonely experience, in the desert, without knowing what was happening.
This period of isolation eventually gave way to a chance encounter that would alter the course of his life.
The turning point arrived when a stranger parked his car and offered Thomas a simple act of kindness. we talked, we had a beer and asked me if I wanted to go with him yellow,
Thomas recalls, painting a vivid picture of the serendipitous moment. This individual, acting as a Good Samaritan, recommended Thomas to a geriatric facility for needy people, providing him with a safe and cozy place to live.
the story of Charles Thomas serves as a reminder that even in the most isolated circumstances, hope and human connection can emerge unexpectedly.It also underscores the importance of community support and the potential for individuals to make a profound difference in the lives of others. While the full extent of Thomas’s NBA connection remains a mystery, his story is a testament to the power of kindness and the enduring human spirit.
Further Investigation: Uncovering the identity of the Good Samaritan and the nature of his connection to the NBA could provide a richer understanding of this remarkable story. Exploring the resources available to elderly individuals facing hardship could also shed light on the challenges they face and the support systems that exist to assist them.
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Currently, Charles Ray Thomas continues to reside in the Texas geriatric, with the two legs amputated by a disease and trying to recover the relationship with their children. the recent death of Norman Carmichael in 2022 caused that they could not see each other long after their reappearance, but it was known that his friend was still alive.
