Iowa (applington-parkersburg) HS FB coach shot

[booger]

just saw on CNN.

They interviewed the super intendent. Said the HC was shot during a weight training session.

aweful

[booger]

One of Iowa’s most prominent high-school football coaches was shot and wounded this morning.

A player on the Aplington-Parkersburg football team said the victim was coach Ed Thomas.

School business manager Pat Gosch told the Cedar Rapids Gazette that Thomas was shot in the head at point-blank range.


Authorities were not confirming the victim’s identity, but they confirmed that an adult male was shot at the high school this morning.

Holly Fokkena, Butler County information officer, said about 50 students were present at the school when the shooting happened before 8:30 a.m. No students were injured, she said.

Fokkena said a suspect had been arrested.

Fokkena said the victim was flown to a hospital for treatment. She was unsure which hospital.

The football player said the shooting happened in the school’s weight room.

Thomas has been the school’s coach for nearly three decades. He has nearly 300 career victories, and four of his former players have played in the NFL.

His home was destroyed by the tornado that devastated Parkersburg last summer. But he has helped lead the town back, including the herculean effort to rebuild the ruined football field in time for the start of the 2008 season. The football field is named for him.


http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090624/NEWS/90624008

[booger]

Casey Wiegmann's school and Coach


Originally Published: October 11, 2004
Small Iowa high school produces four NFL playersEmail Print Share Associated Press

PARKERSBURG, Iowa -- One small school, four large pro football players.

At Aplington-Parkersburg High School, the numbers stretch credulity. This school with about 250 students, in a town of just 1,900 people surrounded by farmland in northeast Iowa, has put four players in the NFL.

Centers Casey Wiegmann of Kansas City and Brad Meester of Jacksonville and defensive ends Jared DeVries of Detroit and Aaron Kampman of Green Bay all starred for Aplington-Parkersburg during a 10-year stretch from 1988 on.

It's a place where each game is rehashed until the next one starts and the high school team is so revered that townsfolk call the football field the "Sacred Acre."

Yes, football is big in these parts. But still, four NFL players?

If the state's largest school, West Des Moines Valley with 2,400 students, had the same ratio of alums in the NFL as Aplington-Parkersburg, it would have 38 players in the league.

"It's hard to believe," Meester said. "But if you really take a strong look at it, the kind of work ethic, the kind of things that come through that program, you can see it's very possible."

Wiegmann was the first to make it. He graduated in 1991 -- it was just Parkersburg High School then -- played at Iowa and began his pro career as a free agent with Indianapolis in 1996. He has been a fixture in the Kansas City line since 2001.

"He was the trailblazer," Kampman said. "Then it was DeVries, then Meester, then me. Obviously, I had something to look at and know it was something I could shoot for."

DeVries graduated from Aplington-Parkersburg in 1994, Meester in 1995 and Kampman in 1998. Meester played college ball at Northern Iowa, the two others at Iowa.

"If you look at the four, we're all offensive or defensive linemen," DeVries said. "We're not real flashy."

That goes back to their high school, where Ed Thomas is in his 31st year as coach. Thomas is 245-57 at the school with 15 playoff appearances, two state championships and four second-place finishes.

He has done it with an approach he describes as "plain vanilla." Thomas' teams run the ball and then run it some more. In one recent game, the Falcons rushed for 586 yards. After five games this season, they had thrown just 18 passes.

"There's two ways to look at football," Kampman said. "You can do multiple things, run multiple formations. Or you can really try to hone down on doing a couple of things and doing them perfectly. I believe that's the philosophy at Aplington-Parkersburg."

Thomas strips football to its basics -- blocking, tackling and execution.

"We would drill and drill and drill," Kampman said, chuckling at the memory.

Along with the fundamentals, the school has equipped its weight room so well that someone walking in there during the spring or summer might find Kampman, DeVries, Meester or Wiegmann working out.

"I don't have to go anywhere else," Meester said. "I can work out at the high school and get everything I need."

And what an example for the current players who lift alongside them.

"That's exactly what it is," said Landon Schrage, an Aplington-Parkersburg graduate who plays at Iowa State. "The kids that start football in middle school and high school ... they see firsthand it can actually happen if you put hard work into it."

Because of the four, the Chiefs, Jaguars, Lions and Packers have a new fan base. Tom Teeple, who operates a one-man barbershop in downtown Parkersburg, is a lifelong Chicago Bears fan, but when one of the Aplington-Parkersburg guys is playing, he's watching.

"It's unmeasurable what they've done for our community," said Teeple, who had Wiegmann, Meester and Kampman on the youth basketball teams he coached. "You go to other towns and say you're from Aplington-Parkersburg and people know about those guys."

Delbert Huisman, a retired factory worker in Parkersburg, makes sure he doesn't miss a thing when the four are playing. He has four televisions and the NFL package with his satellite service, so if they're playing at the same time, he can watch them all.

"If somebody wants to watch something else, I'm sorry. They have to go somewhere else," Huisman said. "Those guys have got priority on the TV."

Iowa has many small-town football success stories, starting with the Hilgenbergs of Wilton, a community of 2,800 in eastern Iowa. Wally Hilgenberg and his brother Jerry played in the NFL in the 1950s and '60s. Jerry's sons Jay and Joel also became NFL players.

Oakland Raiders lineman Robert Gallery, the No. 2 pick in this year's draft, grew up on a farm near Masonville, population 104.

Arizona Cardinals teammates LeVar Woods and Kyle Vanden Bosch both played at West Lyon High near Inwood (population 875) in northwest Iowa; Indianapolis tight end Dallas Clark is from Livermore (431), New York Jets safety Derek Pagel is from Plainfield (438) and Seattle Seahawks tight end Ryan Hannam came from St. Ansgar (1,031).

"It goes to show that we have good, solid programs for our students, whether it's a small school or it's a large school," said Rick Wulkow, assistant executive director of the Iowa High School Athletic Association. "But to think one of our schools has four players in the NFL is just amazing."


http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=nfl&id=1899121

[Dave Lane]

Parent think their kid didn't get enough playing time?

[tomahawk kid]

Parent think their kid didn't get enough playing time?

That's what I was thinking.

What other sick motive could someone have, unless it was just totally random.

[booger]

i have no idea. The small town has been through a ton w/ the tornado that wiped it out now this.

Senseless.

[CoMoChief]

I just don't see someone's motive of doing something like this. Football is ONLY and will always be just a game.

[Hoover]

The Coach died.

http://twitter.com/kwwl

[booger]

UPDATED: Coach Ed Thomas dies from gunshot wounds
Posted: Jun 24, 2009 8:46 AM CDT

Sources tell us that coach Thomas was in the school weight room when someone walked in and opened fire on him.

He was shot several times in the head and was taken to a local hospital.

The school tells us that no students were injured in the shooting.

We will continue to update this story as details become available.


http://www.kwwl.com/Global/story.asp?S=10586585

[Frazod]

That's terrible. RIP :(

[Katipan]

Are we not getting the suspects name because he's a minor?

[Old Dog]

Parent think their kid didn't get enough playing time?

I was thinking one of the students/players might have done the shooting....

regardless, it's terrible

RIP

[booger]

Are we not getting the suspects name because he's a minor?

from the dsm register story in the comments section


i heard from a former player that a 23 year old former football player of his was arrested.
that he died on the lifeflight to iowa city

sad. i will light a candle at church for him

[Katipan]

http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090624/NEWS/706249946/1006

An adult male believed to be the gunman was arrested after the incident was taken to the Butler County Jail in Allison. When asked if the man was a parent of a student, Butler County spokeswoman Holly Fokkena said, "not that I'm aware of, no."

[Jenson71]

Holy shit. This is unbelievable.

He was really respected around here. What the goddamn hell

[Katipan]

He's at Covenant. :(

[Jenson71]

i have no idea. The small town has been through a ton w/ the tornado that wiped it out now this.

Senseless.

Must be noted how much he did for the community after the tornado.

In Iowa, Saving Tradition Amid the Debris

PARKERSBURG, Iowa — Ed Thomas stood in the ruins of Room 214 at the high school, where the clock face on the wall was stuck in time: 4:56.

...

The tornado also wiped out Ed Thomas’s football program. And Ed Thomas is not the type of man to stand for that.

That is why, minutes after emerging with his wife, Jan, from beneath the basement steps to find their house on Conn Street and all the ones around it virtually erased from their foundations, Thomas walked — his two cars were destroyed, too — the few blocks to school. And he started to rebuild the past 33 years.

Thomas is 57 years old, and for most of his life, Room 214 served as his classroom for teaching government and economics, his headquarters as the athletic director and his office as coach of the football team.

Three of the room’s cement-block walls had been lined with framed photographs of all-conference players, hundreds of them. Some were in black and white.

Most are gone. There is a hole to the sky where the roof was, and the floor is covered in fallen white ceiling tiles, turned to mush by rain. Fluorescent-light fixtures, ductwork, books and computer equipment — a mouse here, a keyboard there — are part of the mucky piles. So are broken pictures of football players.

....

Recovery will be difficult. The sod on the field, nicknamed the sacred acre, has to be replaced. Tiny bits of debris littered the grass, and countless pieces of broken wood, two-by-fours mostly, speared the field like javelins.

“The field was like a pin cushion,” Thomas said. One piece of wood was embedded so deep it had to be sawed off.

The electronic scoreboard lay crumpled in one corner. The goal posts, now removed, had been twisted into corkscrews. One set of bleachers was so damaged it was hauled away. Another, where the press box was ripped from its perch, may be condemned. Lights dangled from the poles that had not fallen. A fence surrounding the new-but-ruined polyurethane track that circles the field — itself scarred by punctures and tears — was torn out. Even the weight room, in a separate building next to the school, is gone, although a couple of the weight machines remain, like pieces of outdoor sculpture.

The wreckage of the high school will be scrapped, and a new school will be built in its place. No one knows how long that will take. Graduation was held at the school a week before the tornado, and next year’s students will squeeze into the middle school in Aplington, about five miles away. Some middle-school students will shuffle to the elementary school, which sits near the high school but was spared the storm’s fiercest wrath.

...

“I told the kids, you’re going to be better people because of this,” Thomas said. “Other people don’t get these situations. You’re living this. We’re going to be a better school and a better community because of this.”

On Sunday, May 25, Thomas was in his office when he heard the town’s sirens go off. It was raining, but there was little urgency, since warning sirens are just part of the summer soundtrack here. Thomas drove home. His wife screamed for him from the basement.

...

The town was a hive of activity. Dump trucks moved back and forth. As Thomas stood on his property, new telephone lines were strung overhead from new poles. But the devastation was still staggering. Streets, now passable and identified by spray painted plywood signs, were lined with giant piles of debris. Trees not toppled stood as ghoulish sentries; shorn of their leaves, bark and all but the biggest of their branches, they looked like skeletons under surrender.

Ed and Jan Thomas say they will rebuild their house on the foundation. For now, they live in an apartment over the hardware store downtown, which was spared. But Ed Thomas seemed more concerned with the school and the football field.

“I probably wouldn’t tell my wife this, but I don’t know what hurt worse — my school or my home,” he said. “The school was kind of my safe haven. I was at school as much as I was at home.”

Thomas surveyed the damage in the roofless gym, where buried near the top of one pile was a large piece of cloth. It was a state championship banner, once hanging from the rafter, left in the rubble like discarded laundry.

A moment later, Thomas’s cellphone rang. Sure, he said. I’ll send a few players over. He hung up.

“They need some help digging a couple more graves,” he said. The clock over his head, like the other one, was stopped: 4:56. But time marched on.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/sports/football/10school.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1

[doomy3]

Unbelievable. RIP

[Jenson71]

http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2009/06/24/news/local/doc4a422b5643a1b304896512.txt

Coach Ed Thomas dies in shooting; suspect in custody

By Courier Staff

PARKERSBURG — Shock and disbelief reverberated around the state today with the stunning news that one of Iowa’s best known high school football coaches was shot and killed this morning in the weight room of the high school.

Coach Ed Thomas was rushed to a hospital after being shot. Covenant Medical Center officials confirmed about 10:30 a.m. that Thomas, 58, died shortly after arrival in the emergency room.

Several reports say Thomas was shot in the head.

Butler County Sheriff Jason Johnson said that a suspect has been taken into custody and is at the Butler County Sheriff’s Office.

“It’s a young individual,” Johnson said.

“We know of no other injuries,” Johnson said.

A witness said someone shot him in school’s converted weight room next to the high school. There were students using the weights in the room at the time, and reportedly were several eye witnesses.

The gunman fired several shots at the coach, the said.

The incident happened shortly before 8:30 a.m.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation has been called in, said Jon Thompson, superintendent of A-P schools.

Crime scene tape surrounds a large part of land around the red shed that has been converted to the weight room while the new Aplington-Parkersburg school is being rebuilt after the 2008 tornado destroyed the old school.

A crowd was gathering near the school. People driving by could be seen crying.

Parents and students were gathering about 9:45 a.m. at the elementary school. Officials said they would have a press conference later this morning on developments in the case.

...

“You know, Coach Thomas is the pillar of the community. Anything that affects him affects Parkersburg,” Johnson said.

[Jenson71]

Reader comments:

seeing him on TV after the tornado he seemed like a man who was very committed to the A-P kids and community.

Hearing this news makes me sick to my stomach. What is wrong with this world? Ed is a great, great man and this makes absolutely no sense.

Coach,
Our prayers are with you. You've given us so much.

What has happened to our society? Ed Thomas is the nicest guy you would want to meet. This is so sad. I am not from Parkersburg's, but have had many conversations and worked with Mr. Thomas.

I know how he's touched the lives of so many people in so many positive ways

I was not one of his players but even I have been affected by his players in my life and feel the affects of his life.

[blaise]

That's too bad.

[Buck]

Wow.

RIP

[Iowanian]

That's terrible.

Losing a guy as involved as he was is devestating to a small community.
Everything I've ever heard was that he was well respected and a great influence on the young men of that area.

[Jenson71]

Mark D. Becker, 24, is charged with first-degree murder.

Officials say he is the man who walked into the weight room near the Aplington-Parkersburg High School and shot Thomas, 58, multiple times.

Thomas died a short time later at Covenant Medical Center.

Becker is a former A-P student and former football player. Authorities would not release a motive in the slaying. The shooting was reportedly witnessed by up to 20 people in the weight room.


http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2009/06/24/news/local/doc4a422b5643a1b304896512.txt

[Jenson71]

Becker was also involved in a police chase last weekend. The chase started in Cedar Falls in connection with a report of vandalism and ended in Butler County near Allison.

Becker was taken in custody on Saturday and transported to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. Cedar Falls police planned to file charges against Becker after his evaluation. According to the Cedar Falls Police Chief, the department was never notified when Becker was released.

http://www.kwwl.com/Global/story.asp?S=10586585

[Coach]

Hmm... just seems odd. I wonder if the person who committed the crime held a deep grudge against the coach, for something that occured in the past.

[Jenson71]

Hmm... just seems odd. I wonder if the person who committed the crime held a deep grudge against the coach, for something that occured in the past.

You mean like not enough playing time? I wouldn't be surprised to hear he was on meth, and something triggered for Thomas, maybe attention or some insignificant past detail. But he only went for Thomas.

[Coach]

You mean like not enough playing time? I wouldn't be surprised to hear he was on meth, and something triggered for Thomas, maybe attention or some insignificant past detail. But he only went for Thomas.

Well, maybe that in past terms. Like I am not on good terms with an assistant coach that I played in HS, because I was one of the team's most important players, yet my playing time got cut in half for no explaination why. I don't think my practice habits were shitty. I know that I did my best in everything, yet for some odd reason, he perfered to put in a guy who was 2 inches smaller and 20 pounds lighter than me on the field, not to mention that guy was getting his ass kicked repeatedly.

With that being said, I never see him around, and if I did, I wouldn't even want to say anything to him anyways.

[dtrain]

Put his sorry @ss back in the weightroom with the team and close the door!

[Chief Henry]

What a gut wrenching story thats developing up in Parkersburg, Iowa. He was a man who lifted that town up on his back after that massive tornado. A small town HS football coach that has four NFL players to his credentials...

There will/should be a movie made about this man and this town. How tragic for his family and his community and his TEAM.

They will need your prayers.

[topher79]

How was this Becker guy not in jail at the time for felony evade and eluding on Sunday night considering he had a series of priors?

Terrible story. From what I've read he seemed like an amazing human being.

[Hoover]

I'm told that Thomas and Becker's father are friends and prayed over the kid who has been troubled for a while. Apparently, he wanted to be an assistant coach.

My heart just breaks.

[KCChiefsMan]

thats terrible, the world is turning into an ugly place.

[Valiant]

Mark D. Becker, 24, is charged with first-degree murder.

Officials say he is the man who walked into the weight room near the Aplington-Parkersburg High School and shot Thomas, 58, multiple times.

Thomas died a short time later at Covenant Medical Center.

Becker is a former A-P student and former football player. Authorities would not release a motive in the slaying. The shooting was reportedly witnessed by up to 20 people in the weight room.


http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2009/06/24/news/local/doc4a422b5643a1b304896512.txt


The guy was mental was the motive.. Bat shit crazy, was arrested a couple days ago fleeing the police.. Other charges in the past..