Published: June 29, 2009 10:03 am      

Everyone gets mad sometimes

Travis Smith

With the recent shooting death of Aplington-Parkerburg High School football coach Ed Thomas, the question of why remains. Thomas, a legendary coach and 2005 NFL high school coach of the year was gunned down by one of his former players Wednesday in the team’s weight room, and again, the question is why?

From reading about the story the reason why is still a mystery. Those familiar with 24-year-old Mark Becker, who is accused of killing Thomas, have stated that Becker had changed, or had became withdrawn from the small community where he once played football, but reason or motive as to why he fatally shot Thomas remains unknown. My thoughts are when the motive does come out, it will be a senseless reason, or no reason at all. Just some kid who thought by carrying out such a high- profile attack on, from what I can gather, a well-known and caring individual, he in some way will become famous in the news and have his name etched in stone.

But let’s step away from Thomas’ death and look at high school football in general and coaches that push and drive their players in many different ways.

I loved playing football all through high school and would love to have one more season. There was a bond between a group of guys similar to one big family. A bond so strong that it continues to grow many years after taking the field for the last time together during the 1996 playoffs at Whitley County.

And on the other side of the line of scrimmage, their was the coaching staff. Now I am not going to say that I did not have my disagreements with former Clay County head coach Wayne Napier, who coached my entire football career beginning in the sixth-grade. Yes, we had our ups and downs and yes, I got upset when he was on my case for not running a right play, or not making a correct pocket during the handoff from the quarterback. But you know what? He was my coach and I was expected to do what he asked me to and I did it no matter how mad I became. Even in the hot summer heat, I did it anyway.

It has been 13 years since Wayne Napier last told me to do something on the football field, or jumped my case for running the wrong play or not carrying out a good fake on a pass play, which I was notorious for. And after all those years, when I meet Napier out in public, or see him at a sporting event, I don’t go up to him and say, “How you doing Wayne, or what’s going on Mr. Napier.” To me, he will always be “coach.”

And then their was coach Jamie Gilbert, who had an attitude like a pit bull when it came to getting things done on the gridiron. He also had a temper to go along with that attitude and I witnessed it first hand on more than one occasion while playing football.

There were days when I got so mad during grass drills or having to do a drill, that I thought was just torture. I got to where I would have liked to seen coach Gilbert just go away and not coach. And then there were days when coach Gilbert and I joked and laughed together before, during and after football practice.

At times I had more resentment for coach Gilbert than coach Napier because I had to deal with him more during practice. Coach Gilbert was the running back coach and I got to deal with him on a daily basis, including the three-a-days in the hot, humid August morning sun ­— which were wonderful I might add.

Being a teenager, I thought coach Gilbert was just pushing us to the edge each and every day because he got enjoyment out of making us suffer.

But looking back on those days. I know why he did what he did and after finally looking at the entire picture, he only did it to get the most from us. I can honestly say that coach Jamie Gilbert could make me as mad as anyone I have ever known, but at the same time he got more out of me than any coach ever could. I would get so mad that my temper would take over and I would put forth more effort, not realizing it because I was so mad.

I thank him, because without him pushing me on the field and during practice, I would have more than likely just went through the motions, doing just enough to get by. And just like coach Napier, Gilbert still is and always will be “coach.”

You may ask yourself what all this has to do with the late Ed Thomas? In Thomas’ 37 years of coaching, I am sure he has made more than one player mad. He has undoubtedly pushed players to their breaking points, which also made them extremely mad. But still yet, his death was senseless and was carried out not by a disgruntled ex-football player, but someone with a more demented agenda.

What I’m trying to say is that almost all coaches have made us mad at some point during our sports career, but that in no way is reason to do what Becker did. Becker had more problems than just being disgruntled with his former high school football coach. He had other problems that may or may not come out when this investigation is over.

We all get mad at coaches, that is human nature. I don’t know of any football player that hasn’t gotten mad at their coach, but that is no reason to harm them.

Becker might have ridden the pine during his playing days. He may have thought he deserved more playing time or thought the coaches didn’t give him a fair shake. Is that a reason to kill them? You know the answer to that.

There was a player on our team who came to practice each and every day. He was in the weight room every time the doors where open. But it didn’t matter how many practices he attended or how many reps he carried out in the weight room he just wasn’t cut out for the game of football. If you want to know the truth, the kid would have more than likely gotten hurt if he spent much time in the trenches with more athletic, stronger and bigger players. Although he got to play, he did not see the action a lot of players younger than him did because he didn’t have the frame or genetics to build a body strong enough to handle the pressure football applies to one's body.

But you know what? That kid never complained or whined that he didn’t get to play or that he deserved to play more. He got more enjoyment out of watching his friends and teammates succeed and win than moaning and crying about not getting to play and he understood his physical and athletic capabilities and knew he just wasn’t cut out to play football. He stuck with it from his freshman year all the way through graduation and loved every minute of it.

There never has, or ever will be the letter “I” in the word team.

In my opinion, football is a sport that bonds kids together unlike any other sport. Players are together a lot during the four years they play. They share the victories and the losses as one. They expel the same sweat, blood and pain as each of their teammates during games as well as the practice field. They share a camaraderie like no other, and for a player such as Mark Becker to walk into not just a weight room, but a room where he had spent time preparing for the upcoming season with his friends, made life long memories and shared many laughs, and shoot his former coach, ending his life, is senseless. It tells me he planned the shooting to take place in the weight room so it would make the shock and awe of his crime that much more devastating for the community. Becker knew how much the game of football meant to Aplington-Parkerburg High School and the people associated with it. He also knew how much Ed Thomas meant to so many people and players both past and present.

Although I never met Ed Thomas, by writing this column, I feel as if I have known him my entire life because for me, the coaches that taught me the game and had big impacts on my life growing up will always be my coach, and I wouldn’t trade one moment of my time with them on the football field for anything.