Edward Arthur Thomas

Ed Thomas (born July 17, 1950, died June 24, 2009) was the high school football coach for Aplington-Parkersburg High School in Parkersburg, Iowa. On June 24, 2009, Thomas was shot (allegedly by a former student, Mark Becker) at the football team's weight room. Thomas was airlifted to a Waterloo, Iowa hospital where he was pronounced dead. Becker, the accused killer, is known to be a methamphetamine user by police records. Becker admitted to this drug habit to the courts in January. Before the murder Becker was in a psychiatric ward at Covenant Medical Center following a violent weekend rampage that ended in a crash following a high speed pursuit. Police are uncertain as to how Becker got out of the ward. Thomas had coached 37 years of Aplington-Parkersburg Falcon football and won two state titles and a total of 292 games. The night of his death, 2,500 mourners gathered for a candle light vigil. He was featured on the July 6 cover of Sports Illustrated.