Ed Thomas: An Iowa Icon

Many of you may not know of Ed Thomas, the 58 year old high school football coach from tiny Aplington-Parkersburg in central Iowa but coming from Iowa, being a football fan and listening to, reading about and watching him for the past few years I know of him and have certainly felt the pain of the loss that was suffered.

No one knows why it happened and I am not here to focus on the how or why but instead talk about the man known as one of the greatest high school football coaches in Iowa history.  Thomas not only garnered attention here in our state but also nationally.  To his credit, he was named the 2005 NFL High School Head Coach of the Year, an amazing feat for any coach at the high school level.  His program has also produced four NFL players (Casey Weigmann of the Denver Broncos, Aaron Kampman of the Green Bay Packers, Brad Meester of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Jared DeVries of the Detroit Lions) an incredible feat by any means.  To think that the town of Parkersburg (with Aplington) consists of just 1800 people.  Four players from a town of 1800 people is an amazing feat.

Thomas’s overall coaching record was 292-84 overall, amazing when you consider how many years he had been coaching.  He led the team to a couple of state titles and made the playoffs almost 20 times during the course of his career. 

However, Coach Thomas wasn’t just a success on the field and perhaps his greatest accomplishments in life came off the field.  In May of 2008, the town of Parkersburg was devastated by an F5 Tornado which destroyed most of the town as well as the football field and the high school.  In an effort to help rally the community and unite its citizens, Coach Thomas helped lead the cleanup effort there and even suggested that they work on the football field, a great symbol of their community.  And just a few short months after the tornado came through, The Aplington-Parkersburg Falcons were back on the field playing football again.

Few people in life influence us more than our teachers do and Thomas was a teacher to hundreds and hundreds of people and had a very positive impact on their lives.  He was a role model to many and a very positive influence on a lot of people not just in the community but all over the state of Iowa.

He will be greatly missed.