Thomas teaches valuable lesson in wake of adversity

Aaron Thomas, the son of legendary Aplington-Parkersburg football coach Ed Thomas, speaks to the Okoboji football team shortly after their preseason scrimmage last Thursday.

Let's face it. We've all faced some type of adversity in our lives, maybe none quite to the extreme of Aaron Thomas and his family, who were forced to deal with the murder of a father, a husband, a coach and a role model. It would have been easy for the Thomases to take the easy path and just help themselves get through those challenging times, but Aaron and his family dealt with this tragedy head on with grace, dignity, courage and most importantly, compassion.

"Our world needs more uncommon people," Thomas said in front of a nearly-packed auditorium while speaking at Okoboji's Fall Sports Preview Night last Thursday.

Those six words spoke volumes to the crowd and relayed a strong message that not too many other people could display so eloquently.

With the death of his father, Ed, the past 14 months have been a grueling journey that have forced Aaron to grieve in the public eye, but he has tried to live every day to its fullest with the hope of helping the 20 students at Aplington-Parkersburg High School that witnessed the murder get over it and trying to continue to spread the good word because that is what his father would have done.

"The death was tragic, but I thought the message could continue with how he (my father) handled adversity or simply by doing what's right," Aaron said. "My dad always said, 'The greatest gift we have is the power to choose every single day.'"

In fact, his father Ed was the reason he took the athletic director and boys basketball coaching job at A-P, his father's job, after a successful four-year stint at Union High School, a larger Class 3A school where everything seemed to be going in the right direction. The town needed him.

Nobody could replace Ed Thomas, not even his own son. The man taught more than football-- he taught the meaning of life. He built one of the state's most successful football programs that sent four players to the NFL, led the small town of 1,800 back from an EF5 tornado and was a friend to just about every life he touched.

"Don't always do what is easy, do what is right," Aaron said. "My dad always stressed four quarters which not only applied to football but academically and life in general. If you have an assignment, do it all the way to the end. If you have a job, show up early and give it everything you have."

Aaron made the tough choice, but it was the correct one in the end.

Listening to Aaron speak made me want to go out and be a better person. It made me double-check my values and morals and it forced me to reassess the way I live my life.

That is the main reason why Aaron, his mother Jan and his brother Todd received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award this past summer for the way they stepped to the plate and handled a sitaution that transcended sports

Despite the depressing circumstances, the Thomas family went out and preached the three most important things that Ed stressed every single day of his life: faith, family and Falcon football. They took the high ground and embraced the villains of the moment, the Becker family, whose son Mark was convicted of murdering their dad. They did the uncommon and forgave Mark Becker's family for the heinous act he committed.

They proved a valuable lesson to everybody that heard their story and caught the attention of the entire nation by doing so. They did all of this simply because it was the right thing to do. They did it because it's what Coach Thomas would have done. The Thomas family proved that faith really does prevail over all else.