Share a Story
We would like to hear your story of how Ed Thomas impacted your life. Stories will be posted to this section as we receive them.
Please submit your story by email to [email protected]
Coach of the Week:
Week 1-
Coach Pedersen- West Branch
Impact Stories:
Jason Wedeking, Faith Impact Story
Here is the process of how I came to know Christ. At the time of Ed's death my family and I had been in the process of looking to move for a couple years and things never worked out for one reason or another. We had never even considered Parkersburg until this happened, but for some reason I began to feel my heart pointing us towards Parkersburg at that time. So in June of 2010 we began the process of looking to move to Parkersburg and within two months my wife and two boys found ourselves living here. What a blessing it was from God for everything to work out so quickly and for us to get here just a week before our oldest son started his first year of pre-school.
Faith was a very small part of my life before moving here and I now realize that I had my priorities out of order for the first 36 years of my life. Before moving here I found my Bible in a box above my garage. We all know that faith was at the top of Ed's list, as for me I'd have to say it was near the bottom at the time. I began attending the First Congregational Church (Ed's former church) of Parkersburg shortly after moving here and have recently accepted Christ into my life. To me, there is no greater feeling than to be walking with Christ. I now feel like I've got my priorities in line and it's like a huge ton of bricks have been lifted from my shoulders since accepting Christ. One of my favorite things to do now is attending church and being around my church family.
Moving to Parkersburg has been a blessing beyond description for our family. We are so thankful for so many things. It has definatley been a life-changing experience for the better. I've never been around a more friendly community than Parkersburg. They have welcomed us with open arms and we've developed some great relationships with a lot of them. In a way I feel like I have to thank Ed for that, he built and shaped this community over the years to what it is today through his faith.
I unfortunately never had the opportunity to play for Ed, but Lord willing my boys will get the chance to play for Ed's sons someday who now coach here and I consider that the next best thing. I spent eleven years coaching before moving here and consider it an honor and great blessing to now be coaching at A-P myself, there is no other place I'd rather be!
I would also like to take this time to applaude the Thomas' family for their efforts to keep Ed's spirit alive through the foundation and other events. There is no question it helped make a difference in my life and I'm sure it has for many others as well. I've never been much of a reader, but when I started reading the Sacred Acre, I couldn't put it down.
To anyone out there reading this that hasn't accepted Christ yet, I encourage you to do so. Trust me when I say that it will be the best decision you could ever make. I've now come to learn that the Lord works in mysterious ways sometimes. There is no doubt that the Lord used Ed's story as a way to speak to me and to get my attention by saying that I needed to make some changes in my life. I'm glad I listened.
I am almost finished the book about your husband. I know your time with him was cut short, but what a ride. What a man he was! Every kid should have a chance to play for somebody like Ed Thomas. I got the book at Lifeway Christian Bookstore and I asked the cashier if she knew who Ed Thomas was. She told me no, but if Tony Dungy wrote the forward he was a great man. You have a great summer and enjoy your time with your kids and grandchildren.
GOD BLESS,
Henry Kennedy. Hibbett Middle School Florence, AL
your father but he has taught me a lot of things. He taught me that it doesn't matter about your wins or losses the thing people will remember you for is the type of person you were. I love to play the game of Football and for the most part the main reason is because i heard this story about your father on the news, on espn, ect. He has touched me in ways i don't think my parents have ever touched me. I'm currently a sophmore in High School and hope to be a good football player. The reason why i believe i have become good and hard-working is because Ed taught me, without even meeting me, that hard-work can conquer all. If you give it your all and work your hardest each and every day you will feel like you have done your job and will be happy with yourself. My life goal is to be a Football coach just like Ed. If that dream comes true i would want to coach just the way Ed did. Respect my players and hope to have them respect me as much as Ed's past players did. Faith Family Football(FFF09) we had that patched on our helmets for the 2009 football season and i currently have it on the back of my car. It is one thing i will never forget the meaning of because it means so much to me. I am currently doing a research paper on Ed and almost everytime i look at articles about him I feel like inside me i want to start crying because it such a touching story about how your family have continued to respect and appreciate the Becker family. Thanks for the Life Lessons and thanks for having such a great member of your family and lastly Thanks for making a difference in my life and the life of many others.
Dear Mr. Thomas,
Last night my husband was watching the ESPN awards, and as I was reading, I overheard your speech and began to listen to it. When you finished, I commented to my husband, "Wow, it was clear they are Christians - what an amazing impact he had just in his speech!" Well, my husband rewound the video story regarding your dad (isn't DVR great?) and I watched the entire story. I was dumbfounded at the compassion your family showed to the other family. The word that kept coming to mind was Christlike .
My husband and I discussed the story a bit with each other, convicted of how we should be more compassionate and Christlike with little things since you all showed so much courage in BIG things, and I went to bed.
Not coincidentally, my 3 daughters, ages 8, 6 and 3 are memorizing Romans 12:9-21 for the summer. We have memorized verses 9-16 and today started with verse 17. Do you know what it says? Here it is (NIV) "Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody." I read this and immediately your story came to mind. In the most simplest of terms, I tried to tell your story to them and explain to them how you applied these verses to real life. We talked about how angry we would be and how we would want to hurt the other person/family for the wrongdoing, but how Jesus wants us to show LOVE instead of vengeance. I believe they understood. We ended with priorities and how the TV said yours were "faith, family and football". I asked the girls if that reminded them of anyone else's priorities that they knew...minus the football :) They thought for a moment and then said, "Dad".
Thanks for the life lesson in making our verses COME ALIVE this morning. Really, your life impacted 100's of 1000's of people last night, and I believe continues to impact your family and community. You will be rewarded eternally. Ephesians 6:7-8 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.
Sincerely,
Melody DeCoe
Hickory, North Carolina
Coach Thomas,
My name is Tess, and I am from Birmingham, Alabama. My fiance, Ron, and I are both physcial education teachers and coaches here in Bama. Ron and I visited a new church in our area yesterday morning. We are not "church-goers;" however, we have both felt like we were missing something in our lives. It was almost as if we were both wanting to reach out for something else. We randomly just decided to attend this church yesterday morning. Yesterday was the first that Ron and I have attended church together. It will not be the last. The pastor shared your father's memorial ESPY video. Watching it almost made us feel as if something was lifted off our shoulders. Both of us being coaches, I cannot tell you how much of an impact your father's faith made on us. We truly feel like it was not an accident that we decided to attend and that we decided to attend that certain church. We left that building yesterday wanting to be disciples. We left wanting to be different. We left changed because of God's grace through your father. We cannot thank you, your brother, and your Mom enough for sharing this with us. May you and your family continue to be blessed.
Thank you again,
Tess Simmons
I wanted to take a minute of your time to let you know what Coach meant to my life. I think it’s well documented how much Coach did for the guys in the NFL, the guys who have went on to coach or have come into the A-P program, but I just wanted to let you know that even though I wasn’t close to your dad, he also had a tremendous impact on my life. I don’t know if he knew how far his impact on lives reached?
I’d always wanted to thank him for everything he did for me, but I won’t be able to do that now. I regret that I didn’t reach out to him, but I always worried what he’d think about it. I hope you don’t mind, but I felt I needed to get it off my chest, and thought you’d appreciate hearing this.
My parents divorced when I was four, so I didn’t have a positive male influence in my life until I started playing football for your dad. He taught me how to work, how to be a better man, and I feel I owe a lot of who I’ve become to him. I love the quote when he said “if all he did was teach X’s & O’s, blocking & tackling, that he has failed”. He really did teach me so much more than football. He instilled in me life lessons that I can pass on to my children that were taught on the practice and game fields.
The memory I will take from Coach is during the middle of my Sr year of football, I accepted Christ. Somehow the next day he had heard about it and pulled me into the training room to congratulate me and I remember he said it was the greatest decision I could have ever made. I didn’t fully understand it at the time, but he was right and I’m forever grateful he took the time out of his day for me. The football field was his mission field, and I’m living proof of that because his daily teachings were a part of my road to Christ.
I want to thank you for being such an inspiration to the thousands who have watched you since the events of late June. I can honestly say I was at a stage of being weak in my walk with the Lord, but through your challenge at the funeral, I’m pleased to say I’ve been in my Bible every day since, I have committed to help with the Awana program again this year, and I’m looking for more ways to spread the word to the children of A-P and grow in my personal walk.
