Sam B. Thomas

Sam B. Thomas, Sr. (January 1, 1925 – October 19, 2007), was a Kentucky educator who served from January 1972 until December 1986 as a Democratic member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from Lebanon, the seat of Marion County.

Biography
He was born in Marion County, Kentucky as one of four children of Francis Xavier Thomas I and Mary Isabelle Hill. His siblings were Sue Clements Thomas, Sadie Thomas Smith, and Francis Xavier Thomas II. Thomas married Marian Tong (born ca. 1933) of Lebanon. Two sons and two daughters were born to the marriage: Sam B. Thomas, Jr., Douglas P. Thomas, Karen T. Lentz, and Patti T. Smith. Thomas graduated from Roman Catholic St. Augustine High School in Lebanon and then the University of Kentucky at Lexington. In addition to his classroom duties, Thomas was a basketball coach at Saint Francis High School in Loretto in Marion County. He coached football and baseball at St. Charles Middle School in Lebanon. He also coached the Babe Ruth community league in Lebanon.

Thomas served in the United States Army's 24th Infantry Division during and after World War II. As part of the post-War occupation of Japan the 24th Infantry Division was based at Sendai, Japan. While there, Thomas coached the basketball team in his camp, winning runners-up status in the Far East Command Olympic Games trial competition.

On November 4, 1969, Thomas lost the general election for the District 29 seat in the Kentucky House to the Republican Herman W. Rattliff (born 1926), a businessman from Campbellsville, the seat of Taylor County in central Kentucky.

After redistricting, Thomas won the revised District 24 seat, including Marion and LaRue counties, in the general election held on November 2, 1971. Rattliff, a native of Green County, won a third term that year in District 51. Thomas and Rattliff were thereafter House colleagues until each retired at the same time.

During his legislative service, he was the chairman for eight years of the Business Organizations and Professions Committee. After his seventeen legislative years, Thomas spent another eighteen years as a lobbyist at the Kentucky state capital in Frankfort. Among his clients were Wine and Spirits Wholesales of Kentucky, Inc., of Louisville. Thomas died at age 82.