While the football field may have made Joe Thomas famous, these days, he’s focused on a very different kind of field.
The NFL Hall of Famer and former Wisconsin Badger is now at the helm of Hall of Fame Beef, a company headquartered in the Driftless Region west of Madison.
Farming may seem like a far cry from professional football. But in some ways, Thomas says, farming is actually more difficult.
“Making the NFL Hall of Fame was easy compared to starting a beef business,” Thomas jokes.
Raising livestock and building the business from the ground up have introduced him to the complexities of processing, distribution, USDA oversight, marketing and customer relationships as Hall of Fame Beef has grown from selling to family and friends to nationwide distribution.
While Thomas’ path has taken him places he may never have imagined growing up in Brookfield, in some ways, he’s still pursuing the dreams he had here as a kid.
Growing Up in Brookfield
Growing up in Brookfield, Thomas spent long summer days riding his bike, fishing and attempting to sneak into the quarry behind what is now the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts. His mother encouraged him to spend as much time outside as possible: “She’d say, ‘Go outside, get dirty, go play with your friends. Just come back when it gets dark.’”
He often returned home covered in dirt and scrapes. “I think that’s where I formed a deep love of independence, being outside, and getting dirty,” Thomas says.
Thomas didn’t grow up on a farm, but farming captured his imagination early. He spent time on friends’ farms and, during summers at his grandmother’s cottage in Mukwonago, often followed a neighboring farmer as he worked. The old-school farm had a little of everything—crops, chickens, horses and a few beef cows—and Thomas loved being around it.
“As I got older, there was this fantasy about being a farmer and being a football player,” Thomas says.
“When I got drafted, I said to myself, ‘What do I want to get out of the NFL?’ I had no idea what my career was going to be, but I thought, if I can earn enough money to have a little piece of dirt paid off when I retire, then we’ll see what happens.”
From Badger to Hall of Famer
Thomas’ football career began at Brookfield Central High School and continued at the University of Wisconsin before ultimately taking him to the NFL. Selected third overall by the Cleveland Browns in the 2007 NFL Draft, he spent his entire 11-year professional career in Cleveland.
During that time, Thomas earned 10 consecutive Pro Bowl selections and became known for his remarkable durability, playing 10,363 consecutive snaps. His career was ultimately recognized with one of football’s highest honors when he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2023.
His relationship with the sport has changed since then. As a kid, Thomas’ football hero was Brett Favre. Today, his answer is closer to home.
“I would say my son is kind of my football hero because I get to coach him,” Thomas says. “The most joy I have around football now is being able to see his development and be with him as he’s learning the love of football the same way that I did.”
The lessons Thomas took from his own playing career have also followed him into business.
“In football, I made a name for myself as the NFL’s Iron Man, playing 10 and a half seasons without missing a play,” Thomas says. “I understand how consistency and showing up for each other is important, and that’s the type of commitment we want to have with our Hall of Fame Beef customers. We want to make sure that they can always count on us.”
Putting Down Roots
Thomas had been looking at farm properties for years when a friend tipped him off to a property in the Driftless Region.
“I got a call from a friend that had family in the area that said, ‘Hey, I think I found an amazing farm. I know you’ve been looking for a place,’” Thomas recalls. “‘You should come back and check it out as soon as you can.’”
The property had been in the same family for roughly 120 years and had been on the market for four. Thomas was in Japan with his wife at the time.
“As soon as I got my feet planted on U.S. soil, I got on a plane and flew to Madison,” Thomas says. “As soon as I crossed the bridge, I looked to the left and there was a big eagle’s nest with an eagle sitting on it. I saw these hills and this big valley that goes a mile and a half with the little farmhouse, and I thought, ‘This is it. Perfection. I don’t need to keep looking anywhere else.’”
Beyond the setting itself, Thomas has come to value the lessons farm life offers his family—particularly when it comes to hard work.
“The one thing I notice is when farming needs to be done, nobody wonders, ‘Should we just wait until tomorrow? I don’t feel like it today.’ You have to do it,” Thomas says. “It’s going to rain tomorrow, so we’ve got to put the hay up today. Or, hey, the cattle swam across the river—we’ve got to go get them.”
“I think kids learn work, and they get over the fear of hard work,” Thomas says. “They learn to enjoy it. They enjoy the process, working with the animals and being outside. I think it’s just great.”
Building Hall of Fame Beef
When Thomas first began farming, he wasn’t envisioning a cattle operation or a growing business. He was simply enjoying the chance to pursue a longtime dream.
“It was just me living the dream of being a farmer, but not really a long-term vision of raising cattle or making it a business,” he says.
That began to change as his children encouraged him to bring animals to the farm. Thomas and his wife, Annie, live nearby with their four children. The family got its first cows in 2018, and what started as raising chickens, eggs and beef for family and friends gradually evolved into Hall of Fame Beef.
Not having grown up in agriculture, Thomas says, has allowed him to approach farming with curiosity rather than preconceived ideas about how things should be done.
“I don’t necessarily have a dad or a grandpa telling me, ‘Hey, this is the way we’ve always done it on the farm, so you’ve got to do it this way,’” he says. “I can allow my curiosity to lead me and find out what the best science says about how we raise the best, healthiest beef on the planet.”
Thomas has also brought a football mentality of continual improvement to the farm and business.
“I don’t care where we are, I just want to be 1% better tomorrow,” he says.
For Thomas, one of the most rewarding parts of that growth has been creating opportunities for others.
“I think the unexpected joy has been being able to employ some of those kids that started out mowing lawns for me as interns in middle school that are now running my cattle operation,” he says. “It feels really cool to allow those young men to stay in agriculture and kind of live out their dream as well.”
Thomas also sees the business as an opportunity to support Wisconsin’s agricultural community and give family farmers a platform to share their stories and the issues that matter to them.
Hall of Fame Comes Back to Brookfield
The kid who grew up in Brookfield went on to play for the Wisconsin Badgers, build a Hall of Fame NFL career and eventually return to Wisconsin to raise his family and cattle. Now, beef from his farm has found its way back to his hometown, too.
Thomas’ JT 73 Golden Jacket Wagyu Burger is a staple on The Elbow Room’s menu.
“It’s been a great partnership and a lot of fun,” Thomas says. “They actually asked me to come up with the recipe, and I think we nailed it.”
The Elbow Room is the only restaurant in Brookfield to carry Hall of Fame Beef. For Thomas, the partnership also offers a connection back to the community where his story began.
“A lot of family and friends that are still in the area get a chance to enjoy our beef on a regular basis,” Thomas says.
Interview conducted by Jessica Opat
“When I got drafted, I thought, ‘If I can earn enough money to have a little piece of dirt paid off when I retire, then we’ll see what happens.’”