Ed Thomas
Encyclopedia
Ed Thomas was the high school football
High school football
High school football, in North America, refers to the game of football as it is played in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both of these nations....

 coach for Aplington-Parkersburg High School
Aplington-Parkersburg High School
Aplington-Parkersburg High School is a school in Parkersburg, Iowa. On May 25, 2008, the school was destroyed by an EF5 tornado. It has since been rebuilt.-Athletics:...

 in Parkersburg, Iowa
Parkersburg, Iowa
Parkersburg is a city in Butler County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,870 in the 2010 census, a decline from 1,889 in the 2000 census. Parkersburg, although not the county seat, has the highest population of all the cities in Butler County....

. On June 24, 2009, Thomas was shot and killed in the football team's weight room. Ed Thomas's killer is Mark Becker, a 2004 Aplington-Parkersburg graduate and one of Thomas' former players. Thomas was airlifted to a Waterloo, Iowa
Waterloo, Iowa
Waterloo is a city in and the county seat of Black Hawk County, Iowa, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census the population decreased by 0.5% to 68,406. Waterloo is part of the Waterloo – Cedar Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is the more populous of the two...

 hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Career

Thomas had coached 37 years of Aplington-Parkersburg Falcon football and won two state titles and a total of 292 games. He is credited with having coached four current NFL players, which is the most per capita of any high school in the nation. The current NFL players he coached while coaching at Aplington-Parkersburg include Aaron Kampman
Aaron Kampman
Aaron Allan Kampman is an American football defensive end and linebacker for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League. He was drafted by Green Bay Packers in the fifth round of the 2002 NFL Draft. He played college football at Iowa....

 (Jacksonville Jaguars
Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

), Brad Meester
Brad Meester
Bradley Ryan Meester is an American football center for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Jaguars in the second round of the 2000 NFL Draft...

 (Jacksonville Jaguars
Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

), Jared DeVries
Jared DeVries
Jared Jay DeVries [] is an American football defensive end who played for the Detroit Lions in NFL. He was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the third round of the 1999 NFL Draft. He played college football at Iowa...

 (Detroit Lions
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League , and play their home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit.Originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio and...

), and Casey Wiegmann
Casey Wiegmann
Casey Peter Wiegmann is an American football center for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League. He was signed by the Indianapolis Colts as an undrafted free agent in 1996...

 (Kansas City Chiefs
Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. They are a member of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Originally named the Dallas Texans, the club was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1960 as a...

). In 2005, Thomas won the prestigious NFL High School Coach of the Year award. Landon Schrage was signed in 2006 as a long snapper for the Baltimore Ravens, making him the 5th player under Coach Thomas to reach the NFL. He is known for his actions due to the tornado that hit his city. He told everyone on his team to toughen up, and they fixed their football stadium before their opening day game. Thomas' won the state championship in 1993 and 2001.

Aftermath

The night of his death, 2,500 mourners gathered for a candlelight vigil. He was featured on the July 6, 2009 cover of Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...

. On August 28, 2009, the national cable network ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

 televised Aplington-Parkersburg's first high school football game of the year in honor of Coach Thomas.

On March 2, 2010, a Butler County
Butler County, Iowa
-2010 census:The 2010 census recorded a population of 14,867 in the county, with a population density of . There were 6,682 housing units, of which 6,120 were occupied.-2000 census:...

 jury convicted Becker of first-degree murder in connection with Thomas' death. Following a trial that had started February 12 in Allison
Allison, Iowa
Allison is a city in and the county seat of Butler County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,006 at the 2000 census. Allison is home to the Butler County Fair. The city was named for U.S. Senator William Boyd Allison in 1881.-Geography:...

, the jury received the case on Wednesday, February 24; the jury had reached two stalemates prior to arriving at their verdict. Testimony in the trial focused on Becker's mental state at the time of the shooting. On April 14, 2010, Becker received the life sentence for his conviction of first-degree murder.
Members of Thomas' family have approached the Iowa Legislature to consider legislation requiring hospital personnel to notify law enforcement before releasing a psychiatric patient facing criminal charges.

The Thomas family was awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award
Arthur Ashe Courage Award
The Arthur Ashe Courage Award is an award that is part of the ESPY Awards. Although it is a sport-oriented award, it is not limited to sports-related people or actions.-List of recipients:-External links:***...

 at the 2010 ESPY Awards
ESPY Awards
An ESPY Award is an accolade presented by the American cable television network ESPN to recognize individual and team athletic achievement and other sports-related performance during the calendar year preceding a given annual ceremony. The first ESPYs were awarded in 1993...

. On August 16, 2011, Zondervan
Zondervan
Zondervan is an international Christian media and publishing company located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Zondervan is a founding member of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association .- History :...

 released The Sacred Acre: The Ed Thomas Story, a book authored by the Ed Thomas family and Mark Tabb that tells the story of the Parkersburg, Iowa
Parkersburg, Iowa
Parkersburg is a city in Butler County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,870 in the 2010 census, a decline from 1,889 in the 2000 census. Parkersburg, although not the county seat, has the highest population of all the cities in Butler County....

tornado, Thomas' role in the town's recovery and the details of his murder.
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