Charles Thomas (American football)

Charles Ladd Thomas (c. 1872 – September 19, 1920) was an American football player and coach. A native of Omaha, Nebraska, Thomas enrolled at the University of Michigan where he played at the guard position for the Michigan Wolverines football teams of 1891 and 1892. After graduating from Michigan in 1893, Thomas returned to Nebraska where he served as an assistant football coach at the University of Nebraska under Frank Crawford in 1893 and 1894. In 1895, he took over as Nebraska's head football coach, posting a 6–3 record. From 1901 to 1902, he served as the head football coach at Arkansas, where he compiled a 9–8 record. As a head coach, his overall record was 15–11.

Nebraska
After Frank Crawford left Nebraska to go to the University of Texas in 1894, Thomas became the head coach for the 1895 season. He remained the coach for one year and had a 6–3 record while winning a share of the Western Interstate University Football Association title. Thomas took the Nebraska football team on its first long road trip with a game in Butte, Montana to play Butte's local athletic club.