More tragedy at Kampman's high school
By Greg A. Bedard of the Journal Sentinel
Jun. 24, 2009 9:46 a.m.
Green Bay - A little more than a year after an F5 tornado shredded his house and destroyed the high school where he produced four National Football League players, Aplington-Parkersburg (Iowa) football coach Ed Thomas was reportedly shot in the school's weight room.
According to the Des Moines Register, Thomas was shot in the head at point-blank range.
No other details were available.
Thomas has coached the Falcons for nearly three decades and has over 300 wins. He produced four NFL players from the tiny are of about 1,000 people: Kampman, Casey Wiegmann, Jared DeVries and Brad Meester.
Unreal.
A great man could be gone, just like that.
Terrible.
Just over a year ago I watched Thomas cry on the shoulder of one of his assistant coaches as he surveyed the damage done in the tornado from the football field named after him.
I'll leave you with this quote from Thomas:
The last thing I asked Coach Thomas before I left was, "Is there anything you'd like to say to Packers fans?" As his lower lip trembled and he fought back tears, this was his response: "Talking to Kamp, the reason why he loves Green Bay so much is, as he says, 'It's like home.' The blue-collar mentality that you've got up there. He said, 'That's just like what we have down home, coach.' I don't doubt it for a second. Those are good people up there. Just like we're good people down here."
Terrible.