VIDEO: Ed Thomas' Family Accepts Ashe Award At ESPYs

by Adam Jacobi on Jul 15, 2010 3:23 PM CDT in Iowa Hawkeyes Football

As we mentioned yesterday, the family of Ed Thomas received the Arthur Ashe award for courage at the 2010 ESPY Awards. As most of you probably know, Ed Thomas was the beloved Aplington-Parkersburg coach who sent four young men to the NFL (Jared DeVries, Brad Meester, Aaron Kampman, Casey Wiegmann) and helped the community of Parkersburg begin the recovery from the EF-5 tornado that devastated the town in 2008. A year later, Thomas would be shot and killed by Mark Becker, a former player with a history of mental problems.

The ESPYs honored the Thomas family for their remarkable response to the tragedies, and here's the video of son Aaron Thomas accepting the award:

For more on the response from the Thomas family and the A-P community as a whole, here's the E:60 feature on Aplington-Parkersburg from this past May:

We're keeping comments open, but we'll remind you that the Thomas family has set a remarkable example of good will and high character toward everybody involved in the community--including the Becker family and Mark Becker himself. It would be a disgrace to Ed Thomas' legacy to not hold yourself to those ideals in this thread.

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RIP

He definitely set standards that everyone should aspire to far beyond football…

Fuck tOSU

by ajs1122 on Jul 15, 2010 3:26 PM CDT reply actions

What I found interesting...

was that many of the celebrities and athletes at the show, while they were sitting in the crowd, seemed rather disinterested and bored at times. Of course, as soon as they were on camera they would smile, but not too much otherwise.

Then, just after the video about Ed Thomas and A-P was shown, it was pretty special to see so many athletes stand, applaud, and show admiration in their facial expressions. I guess sometimes real life in Iowa has more to offer than most of Hollywood.

I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them.

-- Judge Smails

by WaterlooChazz on Jul 15, 2010 3:36 PM CDT reply actions

+1

"The possibility of physical and mental collapse is now very real. No sympathy for the Devil, keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride." HST

by Dip-Shit on Jul 16, 2010 6:43 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions

Personally

I didn’t care much for the ESPYs last night. That is, with the exception of this awards presentation. How the Thomas family worked to make sure the small town wouldn’t ostracize the Becker family was truly moving. It would be easy to be angry at the family who’s son murdered a beloved coach and mentor, but they rose above that. Truly inspiring stuff…

I wanted to ask though. Does anybody know if the University did anything official to honor Ed Thomas? I do know UI benefited by having his former players play for us (including Kampman if I’m not mistaken)… I sure hope we did…

by edr247 on Jul 15, 2010 4:13 PM CDT reply actions

Also

I loved the fact that the Becker family (I think it was them) was at the ceremony as well. Like I said before, it takes a lot of class and a LOT of strength to forgive.

by edr247 on Jul 15, 2010 4:20 PM CDT up reply actions

He will be missed

What an amazing man and an amazing family. I can’t imagine being through anything that difficult and handling it with such grace.

by ManziBall on Jul 15, 2010 4:14 PM CDT reply actions

/swordsalute

Keeping wildlife, an amphibious rodent, for uh, domestic, you know, within the city - that aint legal either, Dude.

by AcrimoniousAngerererer on Jul 15, 2010 4:50 PM CDT reply actions

Good for them.

Far better people than I’ll ever be.

by Norm Parker's Amputated Toes on Jul 15, 2010 7:42 PM CDT reply actions

Amen...

…and Amen.

by ICHawk on Jul 15, 2010 9:18 PM CDT reply actions

As Hlas Put It....

Aaron Thomas didn’t just rise to the occasion, he went way, way, over it. That was an impressive, moving, speech.

by Fullerm on Jul 15, 2010 9:34 PM CDT reply actions

The speech

I loved the part where he made the appeal to all the celebs and athletes to do the right thing, reminding how influential their behavior is when the whole world is watching. It was a very bold statement, and I hope it hit home for some of those people.

by shada's revenge on Jul 17, 2010 8:42 AM CDT up reply actions

Here's the funny thing....

Between caucuses every four years, the McCaughey septuplets several years ago, and widespread flooding, it seems every time Iowa is in the national headlines, it’s for some sideshow sort of reason that has little to do with the true nature and character of my home state.

In the aftermath of this tragedy, let the grace and strength of the Thomas family, the Becker family, and the people of the A-P school district leave no doubt as to the kind of people who live here. They make me proud to be an Iowan.

I never met the man, but I can’t help but think that somewhere out there, Ed Thomas is smiling at the incredible woman he married and the fine men his sons have proven to be.

by MotorHawk on Jul 16, 2010 9:10 AM CDT reply actions 2 recs