PARKERSBURG, Iowa — Moments after the most emotional game of their lives, Aplington- Parkersburg co-head coach Al Kerns told his players to take a knee, close their eyes and listen.
Kerns didn’t have to say whose voice he was asking them to hear Friday through the cool Iowa air. They all knew he was talking about slain coach Ed Thomas, whose words still resonate with the Falcons months after his violent death.
“What you did to get yourselves up off the ground and win this football game tonight, I want to thank you,” Kerns told the team. “It means a lot to us as coaches, it means a lot to our community, and I hope to the whole state of Iowa.
“We love you guys.”
The Falcons, playing for the first time since their coach was killed in June, ran onto the field through a 75-yard tunnel formed by hundreds of former players to highlight an emotional pregame ceremony. They then paid their beloved former coach the ultimate honor by beating rival Dike-New Hartford 30-14.
Thomas coached Aplington-Parkersburg High in northeast Iowa for 34 seasons and was named the NFL’s high school coach of the year in 2005. He led the Falcons to two state titles and sent four players to the NFL. He died in June after a former player allegedly walked into the high school weight room and shot him during offseason workouts.
“We lost a very good man, a man of great faith, a man of great character,” Aplington-Parkersburg superintendent Jon Thompson told a standing-room only crowd at Ed Thomas Field.
Among the players on the field was Falcons senior lineman Scott Becker, whose older brother is accused of shooting Thomas. Mark Becker, 24, is charged with murder, although his lawyer has claimed he isn’t mentally fit to stand trial.
Scott Becker received a warm reception during introductions; no surprise to his mother, who said the community has “done nothing but embrace us, support us and pray for us.”
“We couldn’t stay living here if we didn’t have the community’s support and my family’s support and my church’s support,” said Joan Becker, who attended the game with her husband, Dave.
Reminders of Thomas and his legacy were everywhere during the game broadcast nationally on ESPN from the small town of Parkersburg, about 80 miles northeast of Des Moines.
The practice field fence was decorated with plastic red cups spelling out “Coach T. Faith. Family. Football.” The Falcons, like many Iowa teams this fall, wore helmet decals reading “FFF ’09,” in honor of the words Thomas often spoke; the logo was painted into the grass on a hill above an end zone. Some fans wore T-shirts reading “Wear’n Red in Memory of Ed.”
“I got really emotional” during the pregame ceremonies, senior Jimmy Clark said. “We all came to play afterwards.”
