Inside the Arrowhead Stadium clubhouse of the Kansas City Chiefs, the locker of Derrick Thomas still remains intact.

There, encased behind a thin sheet of glass, is Thomas' No. 58 jersey, his red Chiefs helmet, his grass-stained cleats, a pair of shiny shoulder pads, and piles of other football gear.

But these aren't the only memories people have of the tenacious linebacker. In the 12 months that have passed since his tragic death on Feb. 8, 2000, various reports have cast dark shadows over the off-field life of the former NFL Man of the Year.

Included in those stories is news that Thomas not only mismanaged the millions he made during an 11-year NFL career, but that he had no will, leaving seven children from five different women along with a host of creditors each staking claim to what's left of his dwindled finances.

	Derrick Thomas excelled on the field. But his death left a maze of off-field problems.

Though a decision about the estate won't be made for months and few are talking specifics about where Thomas went wrong, the lessons are already being learned.

"Everyone can look back with Derrick and be surprised with this and that about his life and do all this second-guessing," said Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFL Player's Association. "That's the easy road to take. But instead, what we have to do is learn from this, move on, and educate our players so it doesn't happen again."

That's just what Upshaw has set out to do. He has led a charge to educate both players and player agents on the importance of long-term financial planning and has hired someone to register potential financial consultants, in an effort to ensure they have an un-checkered past and meet various criteria set forth by the NFLPA.

For many young, healthy, multi-millionaire athletes, nothing is further from their minds than worrying about retirement or even an unexpected death. Upshaw points out that many of them take the egotistical approach that they are invincible and such tragedies will never happen to them. But the case of Thomas, someone who gained notoriety for his philanthropic ways, is evidence of the importance of estate planning.

"With a will, Derrick could have simplified everything," said Ron Bronstein, the Kansas City, Mo., lawyer overseeing settlement of Thomas' estate. "He could have a trust, elected how he wanted his money administered, saved money on estate taxes; there are a lot of benefits. Now his estate is managed in accord with what the state says."

Thomas, who died from a pulmonary embolism two weeks after being paralyzed in a Jan. 23, 2000 car accident, earned $20 million during the final six years of his playing career, according to a report by USA Today. Included in that figure is a $7.5 million signing bonus that accompanied his new seven-year, $26.9-million contract in 1997.

But last March, when a probate judge appointed Thomas' mother, Edith Morgan, and the George K. Baum Trust Co. as co-administrators of the estate, it was valued at only $2.75 million dollars.

So where did the money go? Well, about half of his gross income went to taxes. The rest is believed to have been lost through a combination of failed business ventures, a freewheeling lifestyle (he was once tabbed the "social director of the NFL") and poor financial planning, according to published reports.

With no wife, no will, and no long-term estate plan, it has left a scramble for what will be left of the money after lawyers, accountants and taxes are paid. Bronstein said it's one of the more challenging estates he's had to work with.

"There were a lot of different business interests Derrick had, he was into a lot of things," Bronstein said. "And there is some poor record keeping. There wasn't a good trail to many of his assets."

To avoid such a mess in the future, Upshaw sent a survey to 1,800 NFL players this fall, asking them to explain whether or not they had a long-term financial plan, and if so, who helped them develop the plan and what they knew about that individual's background.

Much to Upshaw's pleasant surprise, nearly 1,300 of the surveys were returned.

	“	Everyone can look back with Derrick and be surprised with this and that about his life and do all this second-guessing. That's the easy road to take. But instead, what we have to do is learn from this, move on, and educate our players so it doesn't happen again. ”
		— Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFL Player's Association

"That tells me that our message is hitting home and the players are concerned about this," said Upshaw, who also has led a buckle-up campaign after news surfaced that Thomas wasn't wearing his seatbelt in the fatal crash. "And that's a positive thing."

New Orleans defensive tackle La'Roi Glover, who led the league in sacks this past season, received the survey. Though his will and estate was planned prior to Thomas' death, Glover said that tragedy, along with Upshaw's survey, opened his eyes, as well as those of his teammates.

"There was a huge impact. You realize how easily it can all be taken away," Glover said. "We are in a great opportunity to make a lot of money doing something we love. It's foolish to walk away from the game with nothing. So hopefully you've set up a nice nest egg for yourself where you don't let unforeseen circumstances take your living away."

Helping Upshaw's cause are individuals like Martin Bayless, who befriended Thomas when the two played for the Chiefs from 1992-97 and now works as the director of player development for the Buffalo Bills. Bayless' job is to essentially support a player's off-field life, including the area of estate planning. And having developed a tight bond with the nine-time Pro Bowler, the issue hits home a little harder.

"I had some issues with all this information about Derrick becoming public," Bayless said. "But I've seen that it can have a positive effect. In reality, we had a great human being who had to sacrifice his life for the betterment of everybody else."

In addition to the league's education of players and player agents, Bayless said the league has developed a system where player development individuals like himself can run background checks on financial consultants, in search of illegal or criminal activities from the past.

This eliminates an athlete's fear of losing his money to a crooked agent or planner.

"No system is fool-proof, but a lot of the problems these guys worry about can be alleviated through this," Bayless said. "It isn't trying to bash anybody or discredit them, it's just that the facts are out there -- players are often taken advantage of. So I let our guys know this is available to them. And I make estate planning as mandatory as possible."

Many agents have a similar fear of financial consultants. In recent instances, financial consultants that are recommended by agents have stolen money from an athlete, undermining the athlete-agent relationship.

This is one of the reasons that Thomas' agent, Leigh Steinberg, hasn't traditionally worked with a specific financial planner. However, the 1997 sale of Steinberg's agency to Assante, a leading provider of financial and life management services, could change that.

Though Steinberg didn't return phone calls for this story, Dan Shields, executive vice president for Assante, said the acquisition of Steinberg, Moorad & Dunn will make long-term financial planning more readily available from trustworthy sources.

"Clearly, services are available and comprehensive," Shields said. "Access, awareness and utilization are critical to expansion of service-offering success. We have just begun this journey."

Agent David Canter, who has more than 50 clients, including Redskins running back Stephen Davis, has a financial planner and an additional attorney that assists in estate planning on his staff.

That attorney, Mike Kirshon, points out that although professional athletes have this invincible aura that nothing will happen to them and they can put-off a long-term financial plan, the contrary is actually true. Because they have a limited playing career within which to make their finances, these financial facets become that much more critical.

"Unlike you or I, they have just a short spurt to make their money and that's if they stay healthy," Kirshon said. "You look at Derrick, say he retired in the next couple of years, is having $2 million dollars with these obligations, children and everything a lot of money? No. So we use that as an example of what can go terribly wrong. Everyone has responded."

12,092. That's the number of days that Thomas lived. When Upshaw heard the number read at Thomas' funeral service, the magnitude of the tragedy hit home. And now, Upshaw, Bayless, and countless others are hoping that Thomas didn't die in vain.

"When you count it in days, it sounds short -- really short," Upshaw said. "You think in those terms and it's really not that long. But that served as a wake-up call for me when I heard that number. We are all human and can go at anytime. And you have to be somewhat prepared."

Wayne Drehs is an ESPN.com staff writer.