National sports giant ESPN will broadcast Aplington-Parkerburg High School's opening home football game while it pays tribute to the team's coach, who was shot and killed in June.
The Aug. 28 broadcast of the game against Dike-New Hartford will also include a half-hour tribute to the coach, Ed Thomas.
The game will be Aplington-Parkersburg's first since Thomas was shot and killed in the school's weight room. A former player, Mark D. Becker, faces murder charges in connection with the shooting.
Thomas, who helped launch several NFL careers, was credited with leading the town's recovery after a deadly EF-5 tornado tore through Parkersburg in 2008.
