From the corner chair

Learn from Ed Thomas' life

I didn’t know Ed Thomas, but I knew about him.

I had never met the man who put Aplington-Parkersburg on the national map, but I know people like him.

I’ll bet many of you felt the same way Wednesday morning when the shocking news hit — a legendary coach from small-town Iowa was shot and killed while putting a group of student-athletes through weight training.

It’s more than sad.

But out of tragedy often comes lessons. The Ed Thomas I’ve read about and heard others talk about would have turned this evil into something good. It would take time, but he would have found a lesson to teach the young students and athletes he adored.

According to those who knew him well, Thomas was more than a football coach. He was a man of faith, a father, a grandfather and a teacher.

UNI football coach Mark Farley knew Thomas well — football coaches, separated by just a few miles, with similar ideals.

“The hard part is this is a great man, not just a great coach, a great man,” Farley said Wednesday. That’s been a common theme.

Thankfully, there are many high school coaches in Eastern Iowa who share Thomas’ passion for not only coaching, but teaching and molding beyond the fields and games. It’s a fraternity Thomas Coaches play such an important part in the lives of our children, from the youth baseball coach to the college football coach.

Let's all learn from Ed Thomas' life.

A different woman coming to Fifth Season race

She's a different woman in 2009.

Ihle, the last name she uses professionally, now is a mother of two young sons. She earned her doctorate in counseling and psychology and she's now 40.

She's run the Fifth Season 8K four times and won it four times. Her first race in C.R., in 1997, produced a still-standing record time of 25 minutes, 55 seconds.

Will she get No. 5 on July 4.

"Oh, God, no," she said with a laugh. "I'll consider myself blessed if I can pull of the masters win."

Not only is her life different these days, so is her perspective. She said she'll do the best she can on July 4, but won't be upset if her time isn't on par with her previous performances here.

"It's just a different chapter in my life," she said. "I'm in a totally different life stage.

"I feel like I'm about 20-something, but I run like I'm 40-something."

Look for more on Ihle-Helledy next week during our preview of the 24th annual Alliant Energy Fifth Season 8K.

DeVries message is simple, but needs to be heard

Steve DeVries has a message for parents of young athletes — “relax.”

DeVries, 60, has a doctorate in sports psychologist. He’s a professor at Cornell College in Mount Vernon who teaches sports psychology and sports sociology. He also offers a coaching authorization class.

More importantly, DeVries is a former coach who spent 18 years directing the Cornell wrestling program. Most importantly, DeVries is the father of two sons who were successful youth, high school and college athletes.

DeVries loves athletics. He thinks they play an vital role in our lives. They teach valuable lessons.

Yet those lessons often are lost on parents of aspiring athletes and coaches molding our youth.

“The things you can do to make sports more enjoyable also makes (the athletes) more productive,” he said.

DeVries’ message is simple. “It’s not rocket science,” he said.

But it’s one that too often falls on deaf ears — or the wrong ears.

DeVries has three main points he makes to parents and coaches — let the kids be kids (i.e. have fun), make it a successful experience (this does not mean winning) and learn the “good stuff we know our kids can get out of sports” (i.e. development).

“Try to identify something they did well, something positive about the experience,” he said. “Any kind of improvement ... glimmers, lights you can find.”

Parents and coaches need to point out these small victories, he said, because teammates too often won’t and “the kids are going to focus on the stuff you focus on.”

We have to keep it fun to keep them involved.

“Parents just need to relax and let their kids enjoy this thing,” DeVries said.

A year ago today ...

I was preparing to leave on a Wednesday night, flying to Las Vegas for the Olympic Trials in freestyle wrestling, Greco-Roman and Judo. It was a great assignment and one I would turn into a mini-vacation with my wife joining me a couple of days later. Our son also was set to arrive for a bachelor's party.

But a year ago today, I walked downtown with colleague Jeff Linder to watch the Cedar River rise toward the bridge. It was smacking the side of the bridge on Third Avenue. A few hours later, I walked back down after the bridge was closed.

I left for Vegas that night and, when I woke up in the morning, I had several missed calls, several messages telling me what happened in Cedar Rapids and surrounding areas. I switched on CNN and there, in my hotel on the famous Vegas strip, was my town under water.

Talk about feeling guilty, with the pleasure.

I did my job in Vegas, my wife joined me and I got to see my son for a few minutes. I got a lot of good work done, had a lot of fun, but I never will forget my friends and family struggling to keep their heads and businesses above water.

Some still struggle today.

So, with this little blurb of rememberance, I ask for you all also to not forget. Remember what happened here last June and help in any way possible, even if it's just picking up a hammer to nail some drywall.

This is a wonderful town, a wonderful community and it's people have - and will - survive.

Brands' message simple, but worthwhile

Last night, at the ninth annual Celebration of Sports Banquet, the University of Iowa wrestling coach showed he’s a winner off the mat, too. And just as fierce.

Those of us who have had the pleasure of listening to Brands speak — in front of his team, the media or a group of young athletes — were not surprised by his message or his passion.

Hopefully this message carried loud and clear to an audience that included some of the top high school senior athletes in Linn County on Wednesday night.

As these wonderful athletes venture to the “next level,” hopefully the words from Brands will carry them through. By the looks on their faces, by their edge-of-the-seat attention, it appears it will.

Brands started by apologizing for “talking down” to the audience, telling them they were “his team” and this simply was how he talked to his Hawkeye wrestlers. He talked about being a success in their particular sport, about reaching their athletic goals and doing the right thing “all the time” so they don’t end their careers with an empty feeling and perceived failure.

He talked about the importance of academics, but said it’s all right to be an athlete-student as long as you work just as hard, focus just as much in the classroom and do those same right things in your life so you can fulfill those goals, too. Tom Brands is all about doing the right thing. He had a reputation as a tough-as-nails wrestler, a relentless competitor who some felt was too intense, to aggressive at time. That ridiculous in a one-on-one combat sport, of course.

But, even during those days, you never saw a Brands on a police docket. He never was suspended for “breaking team rules” and never was in Coach Dan Gable’s doghouse.

“One strike equals three,” he told the high school stars, warning that missteps in college linger for years.

Brands admitted his message was no different from one heard any day of the week, from many coaches and, he hoped, all parents.

But this is who Tom Brands is and his message is simple. He lives his life trying to get better every day, being a better husband, a better father, a better coach, a better friend. It’s simple, but it’s not easy.

“He’s as good a person, and father, as he is a coach,” University of Iowa sports information director Phil Haddy said during a recent conversation.

Brands learned this life lessons growing up in Sheldon, then later in life under men like Gable. He said he never rolled his eyes at their lessons, their messages.

I didn’t see any eyes rolling last night, either.