PARKERSBURG, Iowa — More than 2,000 people, including a half-dozen high school football teams wearing their jerseys, gathered Monday for the funeral of slain high school football coach Ed Thomas.

Al Kerns, a fellow coach at Aplington-Parkersburg High School who delivered the eulogy, remembered Thomas as someone who always saw the best in everyone, and knew exactly what his purpose was in life.

"I don't think of the games won, I don't think of the countless awards he got …" Kerns said. "All I know is that by being near him for over 30 years, he made the people around wish to become better."

Thomas, 58, was gunned down last Wednesday in a weight room near the high school. A former football player, Mark Becker, 24, of Parkersburg, is charged with first-degree murder. He is in the Cerro Gordo County jail on a $1 million bond.

Kerns' eulogy at times caused mourners to wipe tears, bow their heads and laugh heartily.

"He had a special, almost mythical talent of driving," Kerns said. "Anyone that's ever ridden with Ed knows about it. He could drive a vehicle for miles and never look out the windshield."

If Kerns was reading the newspaper while he rode shotgun, he said, Thomas would peek at the articles.

Brad Zinnecker, pastor of First Congregational Church, said the turnout was a testament to Thomas' faith.

Thomas worked as a head coach for 37 seasons. He coached several players who went on to the NFL, including Green Bay Packers' Aaron Kampman, Jacksonville Jaguars' Brad Meester, Detroit Lions' Jared DeVries and Denver Broncos' Casey Wiegmann. All four served as pallbearers.

PARKERSBURG, Iowa — Ed Thomas, one of the best-known high school football coaches in Iowa and the NFL 's 2005 high school coach of the year, was fatally shot Wednesday by one of his former players, authorities said.

Mark Becker, 24, walked into Aplington-Parkersburg High School's weight room and fatally shot his former coach, authorities said. He was arrested in the driveway of his parents' home a short time later, said Kevin Winker, assistant director of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

Several students were in the weight room at the time of the shooting, but none was injured, Winker said. He said authorities were looking into a motive.

Thomas, 58, was airlifted to a hospital and died, his family said in a statement. He had been the school's coach for 34 years, accumulating nearly 300 career victories. Four of his former players played in the NFL.

"I've sobbed. I've cried. I've hugged my son. It's a senseless deal," school district Superintendent Jon Thompson said.

"Why would anyone want to do something like this?" asked former Iowa defensive coordinator Bob Elliott, who works in the athletic department at San Diego State. "He's the best. He's the best of the best."

The coach was praised for helping rebuild the town after several homes, including his own, were destroyed by a tornado last summer. Thomas led a push to rebuild the ruined football field in time for the start of the 2008 season. The town, about 80 miles northeast of Des Moines, named the football field in his honor.

"I talked to Ed after the tornado," Elliott said. "He was walking around the football field, cleaning up debris. ... He didn't have a cellphone, so the school gave him one because they knew everybody in the country would be trying to get in touch with him. That's how well-liked Ed was."

Tom Teeple, a Parkersburg barber, said one of Thomas' pre-game rituals was to get a haircut at Teeple's place. "We lost an icon," Teeple said.

Four of Thomas' former players are in the NFL: Green Bay's Aaron Kampman , Detroit's Jared DeVries , Denver's Casey Wiegmann and Jacksonville's Brad Meester . "He really cared about every one of those players like (they) were his own kids," Meester said.

Before Wednesday's shooting, law enforcement officials brought Becker to Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo. The hospital said in a statement that it was not asked to notify authorities before releasing Becker, who state officials say was released Tuesday, shortly before he allegedly gunned down his former football coach.

At an afternoon news conference, Thomas' son, Aaron Thomas, 30, thanked the community for its support. He also asked people to pray for Becker's family. "They are also going through a lot," he said. Wednesday night, hundreds of people attended a vigil for Thomas at the high school football field.

LOUISVILLE (AP) — Three assistant high school football coaches defended the actions of their former boss, who is charged with reckless homicide in the death of a player last summer, according to depositions filed Thursday in a civil lawsuit.

The three coaches for Pleasure Ridge Park said in depositions they never heard former head coach David Stinson use profanity, ridicule players for getting a drink or deny players water during the Aug. 20, 2008, practice.

The Courier-Journal reported that some of the coaches' statements are at odds with what players, witnesses and Stinson previously told police.

Fifteen-year-old sophomore lineman Max Gilpin collapsed from heat stroke during the practice after running wind sprints and died three days later. Stinson and the other coaches are all named in a civil lawsuit filed by Gilpin's parents.

Stinson has pleaded not guilty to the reckless homicide charge in an unusual case of a coach being charged criminally with a player's death and is scheduled for trial in August. He has been released from teaching duties pending the outcome of his trial.

Prosecutors allege that he repeatedly denied players water, despite receiving extensive training in the dangers of heat-related illnesses, and forced them to run extra wind sprints as punishment for failing to practice hard.

"To my knowledge, he's never denied players water," said Adam Donnelly, the former offensive line coach, in a deposition in the civil case taken this month.

Donnelly and coaches Steve Deacon and Jason Cook defended the head coach's actions as well as their own.

Another assistant coach who had left the practice early, Jason Hiser, also did not find fault with any of Stinson's actions that day. He testified that players were given numerous water breaks and were allowed to get water any time they needed it.

The coaches testified the players were lethargic and lackadaisical during the hot August practice. That prompted coaches to abandon their scheduled full-contact drills and have the team run wind sprints.

"It's our obligation to make sure they're in shape on Friday night so they don't suffer something from a heat illness," Hiser said. "I think it was the best judgment to have them at least get in shape."

Neither Donnelly nor Hiser, who has been serving as the team's interim head coach since Stinson was indicted, said they were troubled by allegations that Stinson told players they would continue running until someone quit the team.

"If you have a team where some guys are maybe wondering if they want to play or not, it's kind of a way of motivation to find out who is going to stick it out with the team," Hiser said during his June 11 deposition.

Donnelly, who no longer is a coach on the team, said he only heard Stinson make one statement during the time the players were running — "something to the effect that we'll run until someone quits" — and he acknowledged that he probably wouldn't have used those exact words.

But he defended Stinson, saying, "you're going to say things to motivate your athletes maybe to snap them into the right frame of mind to try to get them refocused."

Donnelly testified that Stinson was not angry that day, did not curse at the team and that as soon as the head coach was told that Antonio Calloway, a defensive back, had "hit the wall," Stinson ordered the senior to stop running. Calloway also collapsed at the practice and was hospitalized for two days.

Stinson has acknowledged telling four players they couldn't get water, though he said Gilpin was not one of them. Several players have told police they were denied water.

Witnesses at the practice also told Louisville Metro Police homicide detectives that Stinson called players "cowards" and "babies" for trying to leave for water without his permission.

Donnelly and Cook testified they never heard players ask for water during the sprints. Cook saw one player vomit but continue to run. Donnelly said Max was running in the middle of the pack, and he never saw him struggling.

After players had finished running, Donnelly said, he noticed two players dragging Max off the field.

Asked if he took any responsibility for Max's death, Donnelly said, "I look in the mirror everyday to see if I could have done anything differently. I try to question, did I do everything right. I tried to do everything right."