Iowa High School Football Coach Shot, Killed
Ed Thomas, football coach at Aplington-Parkersburg High in Parkersburg, Iowa, 2005 High School Coach of the Year, was shot and killed. The lead suspect is a former player under Thomas. Thomas was 58. High School coaches and teachers can often have a profound impact on who we are, and can be positive influences on us. Ed Thomas was that kind of guy. His program produced 4 NFL players, Casey Wiegmann of the Denver Broncos; Jared DeVries of the Detroit Lions; Brad Meester of the Jacksonville Jaguars; and Aaron Kampman of the Green Bay Packers. All had tremendous things to say about Thomas:
"[Thomas] has done so much for me personally and professionally just as well as he's done for everybody that's gone through there," Meester said in a statement. "One of the big things he's done for everybody, it's not so much the Xs and Os that he taught us about football but it's the stuff that he taught us that pertains to real life, it's about being men, that has meant so much. He taught us so many things. He taught us things like hard work, just taking pride in what we do and the value of family. He treated each and every one of us like we were his kids."
"Coach Thomas was very special to me and many other young men from the Aplington-Parkersburg communities," Kampman said in a statement. "His legacy for many will be associated with his tremendous success as a football coach. However, I believe his greatest legacy comes not in how many football games he won or lost but in the fact that he was a committed follower of Jesus Christ. He lived his life trying to exemplify this faith and convey those values to those under his influence."
I'm not sure of the motives of the killer; I don't know if we can ever be sure. It does seem that there is something off with the killer, and maybe that explains it. I don't know. But, I've said it on the blog before, and it's a question that may seem naive, but it's so complicated: Why do bad things happen to good people? It may seem like a question a 5 year old would ask, but if it was, why hasn't it been answered. It doesn't make sense. If you do good things, you should be rewarded, not killed. If you do bad things, you should be punished. It's simple. Yet, it never seems to happen that way. It never seems to go the way we all thought it would. Ed Thomas seems like a great coach, but an even better person, who has shaped the lives of many young men. And now he gets killed. The logic doesn't make sense to me, and I fear it never will. While Brian Grant is fighting Parkinson's, while Nick Adenheart gets killed after the best start of his young career, while Ed Thomas is being shot, bad guys are getting away with murder. So tell me this: What are the people living a good life doing wrong, and what can we do to fix it. I'm tired of hearing stories like this, much like I'm tired of hearing PacMan Jones getting opportunity after opportunity. Eventually, I believe, this stuff balances itself out. As for now, however, I'm left searching for something that I don't even know exists. RIP, Ed Thomas.
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