Dr. Harry Edwards, 81, has been pondering life and loss of life since his most cancers analysis in 2022. Regardless of excessive ache, the lifelong educator and 49ers advisor is decided to contribute to the top.
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SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Class is in session.
As common, a lesson from the esteemed Harry Edwards positions us on the intersection of sports activities and society. It comes with historic context, underscoring the importance of 1 Black athlete after one other. It amplifies, with highly effective eloquence that’s quintessential Edwards, struggles and evolution of the civil rights motion. And the famend activist does not hesitate to let you know that it’s hardly completed enterprise.
Sometimes, Edwards, a longtime advisor for the San Francisco 49ers and as soon as the most well-liked professor at Cal-Berkeley, makes use of private experiences to light up messages. Throughout the late Nineteen Sixties, whereas incomes his Ph.D. from Cornell, he organized the Olympic Mission for Human Rights, which produced the raised-fist protest by Tommie Smith and John Carlos on the medal stand in the course of the 1968 Summer season Olympics in Mexico Metropolis.
He rolled with the Black Panthers and was below surveillance by the FBI, with J. Edgar Hoover personally overseeing his case. He can drop so many names, and so casually, of individuals he has greater than merely encountered on his journey: Maya Angelou. Martin Luther King. Jim Brown. Invoice Walsh. Invoice Russell. Colin Kaepernick.
There are such a lot of locations that Edwards can take us on a continuum of enlightenment.
But as Edwards, 81, mirrored for greater than two hours at 49ers headquarters earlier this season, this explicit lesson included a theme for which he’s not well-known: life and loss of life.
‘Caught a screwdriver in a bone and began twisting’
Edwards was identified in the course of the spring of 2022 with myeloma, a most cancers that develops within the bone marrow and threatens to unfold all through the physique. With no remedy and decided to reject varied types of remedy, he has battled excruciating ache for months.
“If you happen to sit right here and watch me stand up out of this chair, you may marvel why I even trouble,” Edwards advised USA TODAY Sports activities. “I am nearly residing on quick-release, maximum-strength Tylenol each two, three hours. Ache in my bones, clavicles, hips, backbone, my again.
“It is sufficient down the highway the place I do know I’ve to watch out getting up, as a result of generally I’m going to face up and one aspect, or each side, from my hips down, simply disappear like they evaporated, like I am falling. And that is a giant downside with this situation.
“So it is one thing that I am conscious of, and I simply should roll with it. To handle it, I am generally consuming Tylenol prefer it’s popcorn. However that is what it takes, and it does not uninteresting my schools. I’ve talked to quite a lot of medical doctors; there’s stuff that I might take to ameliorate the ache, remedies that may gradual the tempo … however there are unwanted effects. There is no such thing as a remedy.
“However one factor after the tempo is slowed and it is even halted, when it comes again, it comes again with a vengeance. So there’s that dimension. The ache is admittedly unhealthy information. I do not know if it is the 80 years or the myeloma. Nevertheless it appears like any individual caught a screwdriver in a bone and began twisting.”
At first look, Edwards appears to be like as imposing as he was in the course of the early Nineties, after I met him whereas working for The Marin (County) Impartial-Journal as a 49ers beat author. He is a well-built 6 ft, 8 inches (which is one cause why two NFL groups and an NBA staff within the early Nineteen Sixties dangled tryout choices, which he shunned to pursue a profession in lecturers), and regardless of his sickness, has stored his weight on. The considered most cancers weakening his physique shouldn’t be simple to decipher. He has at all times appeared so highly effective, with a booming voice and incisive wit that matched his physique.
In mid-January, Edwards obtained excellent news after present process one other battery of assessments. Medical doctors advised him there was no enhance in myeloma markers since his earlier spherical of in depth assessments in Could. He realizes the illness is unpredictable, that it’s doable he can stay secure for 10 years … or undergo a setback that quickly progresses.
As of late Thursday, Edwards wasn’t positive whether or not he would attend Tremendous Bowl 58. He stated medical doctors have dominated out air journey because of the potential for growing blood clots, leaving the potential of driving to Las Vegas. He’s content material with the notion of watching on the 105-inch display screen at his East Bay dwelling, but will go away the ultimate choice to his spouse of 54 years, Sandra Boze.
Standing on the sideline Sunday throughout pregame warmups for the NFC title sport at Levi’s Stadium, he stated Boze was moved as she stood with him throughout an on-the-field tribute from the 49ers earlier than the NFC divisional playoff sport. The 49ers honored Edwards for his lifelong dedication to social justice and schooling. It could not shock Edwards if Boze needs to be available at Allegiant Stadium.
Regardless, he insists he is not going to stress over his situation.
“You recognize what? Like I’ve stated earlier than, I didn’t anticipate to stay to be 30,” stated Edwards, who grew up in East St. Louis, Illinois. “Folks had been dying throughout me. I take into consideration 39 years previous, Malcolm X. Dr. King, 39. Among the younger individuals who had been within the motion with me, and the Black Panther Social gathering, 20, 21. Fred Hampton was 21. After I was on the market, I used to be 24.
“To stay to be 81 years previous, man, what do I’ve to be whining about?”
No, it’s Edwards’ type at no matter age to hold on with objective. Regardless of this adversity, that spirit hasn’t waned.
“What I take a look at is how a lot can I get achieved with no matter period of time I’ve left,” Edwards stated. “To do some issues that can quantity to a contribution. And the remainder of it, what? I take a look at it like my (three) kids, my two grandsons, my former college students, athletes right here that I do know and have talked to – like Ok.T. (Keena Turner), Ronnie (Lott), Joe (Montana), Roger Craig – all of those persons are additionally watching.
“They should know that even this stage of life might be dealt with with dignity, grace and even a humorousness.”
He mentions that when he determined to pursue a profession in academia, he signed up for all times. And that features now.
“I can nonetheless be educating on my deathbed,” Edwards stated. “And if that is the case, I’ve made a contribution. Even on this context.”
It is about contribution, not legacy
It was hanging to listen to this icon of social activism categorical want to make extra contributions. Is he kidding? All through his life, Edwards has been such a major-impact participant, so to talk. He created a wholly new tutorial self-discipline linking sports activities and society. Over a number of a long time, he has been the preeminent voice for the plight of Black athletes. But that is arguably Edwards’ nice present persevering with to function.
In current months, Edwards accomplished two vital initiatives he feels will make lasting contributions: a 12-part video sequence, “The Final Lectures,” that covers the historical past of activism over a span of greater than 150 years; and a six-part documentary, “The Battle and the Energy,” with an analogous theme intersecting sports activities, race and activism. Whereas talks for the distribution of the initiatives are ongoing, Edwards can also be aiming to finish a documentary on Joe Frazier and has narrated a three-hour oral historical past on sports activities activism.
“Sooner or later, I will sit down,” he stated.
Why has he been so busy? Is Edwards pushed to cement his legacy?
“Legacy is one thing that any individual else goes to put in writing,” he fires again. “As a result of I will not be right here. I do not concern myself with issues that I am by no means going to have the ability to expertise. What I am involved in, by way of these items, shouldn’t be legacy. I am involved in contribution. I wish to be sure that folks will look again on these movies, together with a scholar-athlete life, and say, ‘I realized one thing.’
“Someone requested me how I might assess the contributions of Jim Brown, Invoice Russell, Elgin Baylor and Arthur Ashe. I stated I at all times ask one query, and one query solely: Did they make a contribution? That is the important thing query. Not legacy.
“Legacies might be phony-ed up. Legacies can rely on who’s writing the e book. Contributions rely on what you truly do. Not what any individual stated about you. What did you truly do? In order that’s the place I come down on that.”
This reminds Edwards of one thing that fellow activist H. Rap Brown advised him that he has discovered to be true. Brown stated solely the folks and the battle survive.
“People by no means survive and really, only a few are actually ever remembered,” Edwards stated. “We generally tend, and social media has made it even worse, to scale back folks to characters. To scale back them to sound bites.
“I imply, Malcolm X is, ‘By any means essential.’ Dr. King is, ‘I’ve a dream.’ Rap Brown is, ‘Burn, child, burn.’ Stokely Carmichael is, ‘Black Energy.’ However while you ask what contributions they made, you need to go a lot deeper.”
Lifelong educator additionally taught life classes
Edwards has been reminded in current months of a few of his contributions, as phrase about his situation unfold. He is heard from tons of of his former college students at Cal-Berkeley and San Jose State, expressing appreciation for the affect he is had on their lives.
“That is what a instructor actually lives for,” he stated. “For a pupil to say, ‘You made a distinction. You modified the way in which I appeared on the world.’ That is what actually issues to me.”
Having picked Edwards’ mind dozens of occasions through the years, for formal interviews, background perspective or simply throughout common dialog, I can think about what it might have been wish to have been considered one of his faculty college students, exploring sports activities and society. That may have been lit, as the children say immediately. After I advised him that, he laughed.
“Do not feel unhealthy about not going to Cal and taking my class,” he stated. “You in all probability would not have been in a position to get into my class. They might have an enrollment for 550 and 1,100 folks would present up. And they’d stick round, even after the deadline for enrolling, hoping that any individual would drop the category, that they’d be capable to simply go and get a seat at some point.”
Edwards recalled being advised by a fellow sociology professor there was an issue. Edwards would appeal to roughly 700 college students for his lessons, whereas different lessons in the identical window would have fewer than 20 college students, he defined.
“They tried shifting my class to lunchtime,” he remembered. “Did not make a distinction. They tried 4-5 p.m., supper time. Identical factor. There can be 600 to 700 college students in my class.”
When Walsh introduced Edwards to the 49ers in 1985, a big a part of the aim was to show gamers life classes. “What I needed to say, Invoice realized that he did not have the time nor capability to show,” Edwards stated.
It was a special setting in a single sense — Walsh advised him his workplace was “the constructing” and “the locker room” — but fully acquainted territory for a person who to this present day is the one captain of two groups (basketball, observe and area) at San Jose State. He connects.
I noticed it in the course of the early ’90s, when the gifted staff included the likes of Jerry Rice, Tom Rathman, Harris Barton and Jesse Sapolu. And I noticed it lately, too, strolling with Edwards on the 49ers compound after gamers had simply bolted from a gathering. George Kittle waved and spoke. Deebo Samuel stopped, served up a bro-hug and engaged in fast chit-chat with Edwards. The respect was palpable.
Keena Turner, who performed his whole 11-year NFL profession as a 49ers linebacker from 1980-90, is Edwards’ level man with the 49ers today. A vp and senior adviser to GM John Lynch, Turner has been within the staff’s entrance workplace for 27 years.
“He can go anyplace he needs to within the constructing,” Turner advised USA TODAY Sports activities. “We simply wish to know he is right here.”
Throughout an change with Turner within the parking zone, Edwards could not comprise his pleasure about Brock Purdy, the younger quarterback who has emerged since being the final participant drafted in 2022. Edwards is so impressed that he maintains Purdy might grow to be one of many biggest 49ers ever — which is a mouthful when contemplating legends together with Montana, Lott, Rice and Steve Younger.
OPINION: Cease selecting on 49ers’ QB Brock Purdy
Turner stopped him.
“That is an announcement to be made in hindsight,” Turner advised Edwards. “You taught me that.”
With that, Edwards set free a hearty bellow.
‘Harry, do not get my daughter killed’
There is no such thing as a scarcity of compelling reflections from Edwards. Why did he come to California within the first place? Edwards wished to play soccer at USC.
“I had examine this school coach at USC who had named a Jewish child, Ron Combine, and a Black child, Willie Wooden, co-captains of the staff,” Edwards stated. “He bought a lot blowback. Threats. His response was to call them co-captains once more the subsequent yr. So I stated, that is the place I wished to go.”
The coach was Al Davis, who coordinated the Trojans’ offense from 1957-59. USC organized for Edwards to start with a yr at a feeder college, Fresno Metropolis School. After one semester (and with a nationwide junior faculty report within the discus), he transferred to San Jose State – which is the place his tutorial profession took off.
When Edwards wound up at Cornell as a prestigious Woodrow Wilson fellow, he was advised that on common, it took 8 1/2 years to earn a doctorate diploma. He proceeded to complete his classwork in two years, took two years off as he delved into the Olympic protest venture, then wrote a 1,105-page dissertation he stated is the longest in Cornell historical past. That morphed into an built-in textbook, “The Sociology of Sport.” He earned his Ph.D. in 5 years.
“They thought I used to be a giant, dumb ex-jock in search of a simple approach out,” he stated.
One other vivid reminiscence was the day he met Boze’s household in the course of the latter half of the Nineteen Sixties in Los Angeles. By then, because the 1968 Olympics approached, Edwards had a really excessive profile as an activist.
“She got here dwelling with a giant Afro, huge earrings, and her of us stated, ‘Wait a minute,’ ” Edwards recalled.
Boze launched Edwards and revealed their plans to marry. She wished her dad and mom’ blessing.
Her father flatly advised Edwards: “Harry, do not get my daughter killed.”
“What he was actually telling me was, ‘If you happen to get my daughter killed, I am coming for you,’ ” Edwards mirrored. “And he was a non-violent man, a schoolteacher.”
“No sir, I am not going to try this,” Edwards replied.
Edwards and Boze have endured for effectively over a half-century, going through a sequence of personal challenges on high of the general public points Edwards is understood for.
“You recognize who my actual supply of braveness, imaginative and prescient and perception is for this? My spouse,” Edwards stated. “Double mastectomy. Melanoma. Hypertension. And she or he has by no means stopped smiling. By no means stopped laughing. The identical girl for 54 years. And she or he’s dealt with it. I want I had the extent of braveness that she has.”
Edwards believes that the conditions the place he supported his spouse together with her well being challenges helped put together him to handle his present situation. Undoubtedly, that works each methods.
“She worries an excessive amount of about me,” he stated. “However that is her make-up. This nurturer who needs to maintain this.”
The important thing to the whole lot
The 49ers have supplied extra educating moments. And reflections. Edwards sees the dynamic between coach Kyle Shanahan and Lynch, and it reminds him of how Walsh interacted together with his GM, John McVay. He thinks Walsh can be pleased with the tradition that’s seemingly well-established with the present staff.
“One of many issues Invoice Walsh stated when requested in regards to the biggest attribute of his finest groups was that they cared and revered one another,” stated Edwards, who delivered the eulogy at Walsh’s funeral in 2007.
“And after I take a look at this staff and I see what Fred Warner thinks about (Nick) Bosa, and what Bosa thinks about Trent Williams, and what Christian McCaffrey thinks about Purdy, and what Purdy thinks about (Brandon) Aiyuk, (Jauan) Jennings and Deebo, and the way in which they work together and the way they embrace one another’s challenges, it jogs my memory of Joe and Steve, and Jerry and John Taylor. It jogs my memory of Tom Rathman and Roger Craig …
“Not due to the successful and productiveness, as a result of they did not at all times win. However they had been at all times collectively on it.”
Edwards sees society at giant when he ponders the 49ers, previous and current. Society, he insists, can heed classes that embrace honoring range.
“This staff, there is a magic to them as a result of they care about one another,” he stated. “That’s the key to the whole lot. I believe sports activities recapitulates society. The important thing to coping with nearly each main downside we’ve got on this nation – the economic system, the divisions between us, the worldwide posture of america – it is going to have to start with the straightforward proven fact that we care about one another on a really human stage. And if we do not try this, we’re doomed.”
And that is a lesson for the ages.
