LaVell Edwards lauded for management style
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AMERICAN FORK, Utah — While deeply appreciative of his success as BYU's head football coach, LaVell Edwards said May 15 that he appreciates most the relationships he formed during his lauded career.
All the titles did, he said after accepting the Distinguished Utahn of the Year Award from the BYU Management Society, "was keep me employed. The relationships have been very important to me."
The Salt Lake and Utah Valley chapters of the society honored Coach Edwards and his wife, Patti, during a banquet held at the Thanksgiving Point Garden Room. The honor was the third this year from the management society; chapters in Washington D.C. and Seattle, Wash., have also paid tribute to Brother and Sister Edwards.
During the evening, family and friends — including the Church's Presiding Bishopric, Coach Edwards' brothers, sisters and children, and Utah Football Coach Ron McBride — lauded the couple for their management style and their contributions to family, community and BYU.
John Edwards, the couple's son, spoke of his mother's ability to view each of her children differently and meet all of their special needs. "Through listening," he said, "she always found out what each of us needed."
He also recalled his mother's patient support of his father's career.
Coach Edwards' brother, Lewis Edwards, recalled growing up on a farm with LaVell, one of 14 children. "We worked hard, we played hard. We engineered some degree of mischief," he said.
It was LaVell's family life, said former BYU quarterback Robbie Bosco, that he admired most.
"Patti has really brought the family aspect into our football team," said the BYU assistant football coach.
Of Coach Edwards, he added, "There is not a player who leaves BYU with a bad thing to say about this man."
Coach McBride spoke of LaVell Edwards' national reputation, calling him an "awesome human being."
"I have been in college football for 40 years; there is not one coach in the United States who doesn't have the utmost respect for LaVell," he said. "There are a lot of people that dislike BYU; it is a team that beats you all the time. They say, 'I hate BYU but I love LaVell Edwards.' He will go down in history for what he has done [for college football] and for what he has done for Brigham Young University."
Both Brother and Sister Edwards, who will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary this summer, expressed appreciation for the honor. "There have been so many nice things said about LaVell, and I concur," Sister Edwards said.
Then she recalled the summer of 1963, when the family bought a new Volkswagen bug just as the movie "Absent Minded Professor" was released. Coach Edwards told his three small children that the new car had a "flubber gear" — a term coined in the movie that would enable the car to fly. There was only one stipulation: "When we start to fly you have to close your eyes. If you open them we will crash," the football coach told his children.
"That summer every place we went we flew a little bit of the time," Sister Edwards recalled. "It was a glorious summer. We had a great time."
During brief remarks, Coach Edwards reflected on his experiences at BYU and the timing that made them all possible.
"I came along at the right time," he said. "Some of the things we were able to do, probably we wouldn't be able to do them today."
He paid tribute to his father, a man with an eighth-grade education who became very respected in the community. He also spoke of his wife and children: "You play that Volkswagen joke on them, and I wasn't even sure if they would get out of school, let alone become a doctor, lawyer and writer."
Speaking of his success, Coach Edwards said, "You win a few games and, all of a sudden, you are supposed to be an expert, and I am not."
However, he added, much of what he accomplished goes back to his upbringing on the family farm, "where we had to share, where we had to help each other, where we had certain responsibilities."
E-mail: sarah@desnews.com
