This story is sooo sad.  I am a high school teacher in Iowa and my school (the high school) is around 300 students.  This coach was from a school the same size (maybe smaller than mine).  Needless to say, we know everyone and their families. I only hope this awakens some administrators eyes that this can happen in Smalltown, Iowa. 

This coach was a truly great guy.  He was shot by a former player (who admits his best times where for this coach).  He is Nationally recognized as he has produced 4 NFL players from this small public school, all home raised boys - no recruiting and such.  He was shot in front of students in the weight room, thankfully no others were hurt (physically).  This town has been through so much - it was flattened last year by an F4 tornado (the school is still being rebuilt - the coaches home was destroyed).  Everyone has pulled together to rebuild, and Thomas was instrumental in moral, and positive influence, rebuilding of school and community. 

I am just truly saddened by this story, and it hits me even worse as I am at a teachers conference less than 30 miles away from where it all happened.  We have friends who live there (we helped them pick up the pieces of their home last year) and they know this man first hand.  He was awesome.  He was an icon in the school program, in Iowa Football programs, and even in the NFL and none of it made him move on to bigger and better.  Pillar of the community and his church. 

Not sure if many will have much to say, but I had to put this here.

ESPN news - http://sports.espn.go.com/highschool/rise/football/news/story?id=4283443&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines

USA today - http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-06-24-school-shooting-iowa_N.htm

Local paper - Des Moines Register - http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090624/NEWS/90624008

sad news

The kid got busted for a home invasion a few days before.  The court saw he wasn't right in the head and sent him for inpatient mental health evaluation, but then he got chucked back out on the street because he didn't have health insurance.  Maybe if we were more concerned with health care and less with health insurance, the kid would have been in the hospital getting treated for his paranoid delusions and the beloved coach would be alive today.
::)

That home invasion took place in a town called Cedar Falls, Iowa.  I should know because I’ve lived there all my life.  The family who lives in said house had three sons, one of whom I graduated HS with.  I do not know Aplington Parkersburg very well except that my Cedar Falls High School Football Team met them in the playoffs when I was a student there from 1999-2003.  People of AP are saying that this hurts more than the tornado because this is a black mark on the community and a school for ages to come.  In summery this is our Virginia Tech.  :(