Price Thomas was the brother of William Isaac Thomas, the first person to earn a PhD from the university. He received the second earned PhD in 1887. After obtaining the PhD, he served as superintendent of schools in Union City, Tennessee, from 1887 to 1897, when he was chosen state superintendent of public instruction. At UT he instigated the formation of a UT chapter of Kappa Sigma fraternity, to which he had been pledged at Emory and Henry, and he served as the chapter’s first grand master.