Aplington-Parkersburg is more than a two-hour drive from the Quad-Cities, and the Falcons football team doesn't venture down Interstate 380 to find games.

Still, local coaches are plenty familiar with the legacy of coach Ed Thomas, which carried beyond the gridiron. After Wednesday morning's tragedy, a few reflected on Thomas' impact and influence.

-- Bettendorf football coach Aaron Wiley served as an assistant with Cedar Falls in the early 1990s and worked the Aplington-Parkersburg summer camp with Thomas for three summers.

"I was just a young guy, and what I remember about him is he was always really willing to sit down and talk football with you," Wiley said. "He was a guy that loved the game, and he was a guy who would sit down and talk as long as you wanted.

"It's not just that he had lot of success. He was a first-class guy. It's a terrible deal. He was a real ambassador for the game."

-- Central DeWitt coach Kurt Kreiter talked to Thomas a couple of times at clinics, but the two weren't close. That didn't stop Kreiter from donating the proceeds from the Sabers' annual fundraiser to the Aplington-Parkersburg football program, which is still rebuilding from last spring's tornado damage.

"He's an outstanding coach, obviously," Kreiter said. "From the things I've read and the people I've talked to who've had more contact with him, he's an even better person.

"When I heard, I had just gotten done opening up the weight room this morning. The whole situation you can relate to. You volunteer your time, and it's just unimaginable that that kind of thing can happen."

-- During his 30-year coaching career, Davenport Public Schools athletic director Paul Flynn got to know Thomas through coaching clinics.

"Logistically, we weren't that close, but I've known him for a long, long time," Flynn said. "From my perspective, he was a people person, one that obviously cared a great deal about the kids in that community. All you have to do is dig back in the papers from last year after the tornado.

"I had a tremendous amount of respect for him."