Aplington-Parkersburg coach Ed Thomas is pictured on the cover of the Sports Illustrated magazine that hits newsstands Wednesday.
Thomas is shown on the magazine’s cover, standing with his arms crossed, in front of some of his players.
The headline is: "A Good Man Down – Tragedy in the Heartland: The Murder of a Beloved High School Coach."
A news release from the magazine says Thomas "had led the townspeople of Parkersburg out of the rubble of a tornado last year, showed them how to live a Christian life and brought honor to a football field he mowed himself."
Lee Jenkins of Sports Illustrated wrote about the moment at Sunday School on June 21st when Ed Thomas bowed his head and prayed for his former football player, a young man who would in a few days walk into the team’s weight-training room and shoot Thomas. The Sports Illustrated story quotes the Parkersburg police chief, who called Thomas "the rock that (Parkersburg) was built on."