{"id":1894,"date":"2011-11-03T08:00:08","date_gmt":"2011-11-03T12:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspiringathletes\/?p=1894"},"modified":"2011-11-03T14:51:23","modified_gmt":"2011-11-03T18:51:23","slug":"kansas-city-chiefs-center-casey-wiegmann-talks-about-coach-ed-thomas-and-the-sacred-acre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/11\/kansas-city-chiefs-center-casey-wiegmann-talks-about-coach-ed-thomas-and-the-sacred-acre.html","title":{"rendered":"Kansas City Chiefs center Casey Wiegmann talks about Coach Ed Thomas and The Sacred Acre"},"content":{"rendered":"

Click “Like” to share this with your friends!<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the New York Times bestseller The Sacred Acre<\/em>, the Ed Thomas Family (along with author Mark Tabb) courageously tells the amazing story of high school football coach Ed Thomas’ life and legacy. Thomas famously helped rebuild the Aplington-Parkersburg High School football field after a devastating tornado ripped through Iowa in the spring of 2008, but was then tragically murdered by a former player in the summer of 2009.<\/p>\n

Three of Thomas’ former players are currently in the NFL. One of those, Aaron Kampman, spoke to Inspiring Athletes this summer. You can read that interview HERE<\/a>. You can also check out the Inspiring Athletes interview with Coach Thomas’ wife Jan and his son Aaron by clicking HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Most recently, Inspiring Athletes caught up with former Aplington-Parkersburg High School player Casey Wiegmann who is currently the starting center for the Kansas City Chiefs. The 15-year NFL veteran and one-time Pro Bowl selection has started every single game since 2001 and has tallied 10,000 consecutive snaps. Wiegmann talked about Coach Thomas’ influence, how his death impacted him and what he hopes his own legacy will be one day:<\/p>\n

Chad Bonham: What do you remember most about playing for Coach Ed Thomas?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Kansas City Chiefs center Casey Wiegmann (AP Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Casey Wiegmann: I remember the grueling conditioning we did. Mondays were the worst. We generally did about a hundred up-downs and sit-ups and push-ups. It wasn\u2019t much fun. But he was very detailed. He had the scouting report ready to go every Monday. Everybody (we were playing) was a stud and had speed. It was funny because we\u2019d get these scouting reports and they\u2019d always say things like, \u201cMonster. Got speed. Very physical.\u201d He was a football coach through and through because that\u2019s what he studied all the time.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Can you look back and see how your time spent with him impacted you and how his influence has shown up in who you are now?<\/p>\n

Wiegmann: There\u2019s a lot of stuff. I\u2019ll give you an example of something that happened last year. At (Aplington-Parkersburg) you never took off your helmet for anything unless you go for a water break. I\u2019ve been engrained with that. So here I am at year 15 in the NFL and after practice everybody gets in the huddle and Coach (Todd) Haley talks to us all. I still have my helmet on. He gets done talking and I\u2019m getting ready to walk to the locker room and Scott Pioli, our general manager, stops me and asks me why I kept my helmet on. I said, \u201cIt\u2019s just what I learned from Coach Thomas.\u201d And he goes, \u201cI love that about you and what you stand for.\u201d Just a little thing like that was engrained in my head because of a coach.<\/p>\n

Bonham: What\u2019s one of the lessons you learned from Coach Thomas that still resonates with you today?<\/p>\n

Wiegmann: Going into my senior year of high school, I was working at a lumberyard and I wanted to quit halfway through the summer because I didn\u2019t like building houses and getting on the roofs and hammering nails. So I went to Coach Thomas and I told him, \u201cI can\u2019t do this. I want to quit.\u201d It didn\u2019t take him but two seconds to spit out, \u201cIf you quit on this one thing, you\u2019re going to quit on other things in life down the road.\u201d Believe it or not, I still use that to this day, whether it\u2019s on the football field or if I have something go wrong at home. There\u2019s so much stuff that the guy passed on to people. It\u2019s bad because you take the stuff for granted when you\u2019re young. I learned probably more from the last five years that I had with him than any other time.<\/p>\n

Bonham: How did his strong faith inspire you?<\/p>\n

Wiegmann: It was pretty obvious what the guy stood for. He was who he was. He was a man of faith. He didn\u2019t hammer it down people\u2019s throats but if he could express something in a certain way, he was going to do that. When practices were on Wednesdays, they never went long. Kids were always given enough to time to get cleaned up so they could make it to church. That stuff, a lot of people just take for granted. But for coach, that was his priority. He wanted to make sure his kids were getting to church.<\/p>\n

Bonham: How did his death personally impact you?<\/p>\n

Wiegmann: It took a second father away from me. Yes, he was a coach and a mentor. But it was almost like a second father being taken away from me. I respected him so much. I\u2019ve got some photos of Coach in my three-year-old\u2019s room. I always point to them when I\u2019m giving him a bath. I\u2019ll say, \u201cWho\u2019s that?\u201d And he says, \u201cCoach Thomas.\u201d Hopefully when he gets a little bit older, I\u2019ll be able to instill into my kids all the core discipline, the character, the commitment and all the stuff that Coach preached to us.<\/p>\n

Bonham: What\u2019s impressed you most about how the Thomas family has publicly handled the situation?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
New York Times Bestseller The Sacred Acre retells the story of legendary high school football coach Ed Thomas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wiegmann: It amazes me every time I start watching stuff and I read stuff. I\u2019ll text Aaron Thomas right away and say, \u201cYou amaze me more and more.\u201d It just keeps going on and on every time something happens. Even yesterday, I was on Coach\u2019s foundation\u2019s website and there was a thing about them being on Fox & Friends and I watched it. You can just see the way they get in front of people and command respect for what they believe in. That\u2019s what Coach taught them to do. It happened immediately after the shooting. I don\u2019t know if I could do that. Yes I learned from Coach to try and do what\u2019s right and everything, but that\u2019s hard to do. This family has stepped up and now we\u2019re trying to carry on his tradition through his foundation. Aaron\u2019s played a big role in that and Todd (Thomas) has too. It\u2019s crazy what the family has done.<\/p>\n

Bonham: What will you want people to remember you for when you finally step away from the game?<\/p>\n

Wiegmann: I was dependable and I was there for the other guys. I wasn’t going to let them down. It\u2019s what Coach preached to us\u2014to be there for your teammates and to do anything you can for them. That\u2019s what I\u2019ve tried to do my entire career. It hasn\u2019t been easy, starting undrafted and having to work my way up. But as soon as you get your chance, you\u2019ve got to take advantage of it.<\/p>\n

Bonham: What do you plan to do with your life once you finally hang up the helmet?<\/p>\n

Wiegmann: I\u2019ve thought about that a little bit. My answer right now is what it\u2019s been the last year. I\u2019ll take a little bit of time off and think about what I want to do, but I definitely want to get into high school coaching. I\u2019m not sure if I\u2019d rather be a head coach or an assistant, but I want to make sure that I give back to the kids and try to set an example of what Coach Thomas did. If you can just affect one kid, the world is going to be a better place. He affected so many kids. So hopefully I can have an impact like that.<\/p>\n

Learn more about the Ed Thomas Family Foundation by visiting the official website HERE<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Click “Like” to share this with your friends! In the New York Times bestseller The Sacred Acre, the Ed Thomas Family (along with author Mark Tabb) courageously tells the amazing story of high school football coach Ed Thomas’ life and legacy. Thomas famously helped rebuild the Aplington-Parkersburg High School football field after a devastating tornado…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":418,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617,372,601,384,382],"tags":[234,748,761,765,746,745,8,287,764,763,762],"class_list":["post-1894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-release","category-charitable-organizations","category-christian-coaches","category-football","category-qa","tag-aaron-kampman","tag-aaron-thomas","tag-aplington-parker","tag-casey-wiegmann","tag-ed-thomas","tag-kansas-city-chiefs","tag-nfl","tag-pro-bowl","tag-scott-pioli","tag-todd-haley","tag-todd-thomas"],"yoast_head":"\nKansas City Chiefs center Casey Wiegmann talks about Coach Ed Thomas and The Sacred Acre - Inspiring Athletes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/11\/kansas-city-chiefs-center-casey-wiegmann-talks-about-coach-ed-thomas-and-the-sacred-acre.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kansas City Chiefs center Casey Wiegmann talks about Coach Ed Thomas and The Sacred Acre - Inspiring Athletes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Click “Like” to share this with your friends! In the New York Times bestseller The Sacred Acre, the Ed Thomas Family (along with author Mark Tabb) courageously tells the amazing story of high school football coach Ed Thomas’ life and legacy. 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Chad is currently working on five new books including Sooner Legacy, Husker Legacy and Lessons From Sooner Football (Cross Training) as well as The Faith of Stock Car Racing (Judson Press). When he's not writing, Chad lends his efforts to various independent television and film projects. He was the coordinating producer for Choosing Life (2010) and Life Happens (2011). Chad is currently serving as producer on a forthcoming documentary about Super Bowl champion Brian Kinchen. 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