 Phil Edwards at the 1928 Olympics | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Philip Aaron Edwards |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Born | September 23, 1907 |
| Died | September 6, 1971 (aged 63) Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) |
| Weight | 64 kg (141 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Country | Canada |
| Sport | Running (Track and Field) |
| College team | New York University McGill University |
| Club | Hamilton Olympic Club |
Philip Aaron Edwards,MD (September 23, 1907 – September 6, 1971) was aCanadian andGuyanesetrack and field athlete who competed inmiddle-distance events. Nicknamed the "Man of Bronze", he was Canada's most-decoratedOlympian for many years. He was the first-ever winner of theLou Marsh Trophy as Canada's top athlete. He went on to serve as a captain in theCanadian army and as a highly regardedphysician and expert oftropical diseases.
Edwards was born inGeorgetown,British Guiana (nowGuyana), to a family of thirteen children. His father was a magistrate, and the family was part of theAfro-Guyanese elite in the colony. Edwards' father was one of eighteen children and was originally fromBarbados. Less is known of his mother, but it is thought that she may originally have been fromTrinidad.[1] In a 1928New York Daily News article, it was stated that Edwards' paternal grandmother wasEast Indian and his maternal grandfather wasScottish and that fellow OlympianJack London was a classmate of his atQueen's College in Georgetown. Growing up in what Edwards called 'a country district', he practiced sprinting by racing an angry cow, according to the article.[2]
By the age of 16, Edwards dominated track events at his school. After graduating, he left British Guiana and moved to theUnited States, enrolling atNew York University (NYU) in 1925, where his elder brother “King” Edward was already a great student athlete. Edwards’ parents and several of his siblings also emigrated toNew York, where they founded a law and real estate firm inHarlem. Under the guidance of NYU coachEmil Von Elling, Edwards steadily improved really great as a runner, particularly in 880-yard races or more. In 1927 he narrowly missed winning the US national title in the 880 yards event. Then in 1929, two years later, he won that same race.[3][4]
While Edwards' performances at New York University clearly established him as an Olympic-calibre athlete, he was not eligible to compete for the United States as he was not an American citizen. However, as a British subject, Edwards was eligible to compete for another country within the empire. In 1927 he was invited byMelville Marks (Bobby) Robinson, manager of the Canadian Olympic track and field team, to compete for Canada in the1928 Summer Olympics, where Edwards won a bronze medal as part of Canada's 4 × 400 metre relay team.[5]
Following Amsterdam, Edwards left New York University to attend Montreal'sMcGill University as a medical student, where he also competed with the university's track team. Edwards also continued his association with Bobby Robinson there, competing for British Guiana in the first-everBritish Empire Games which were created largely due to Robinson's efforts, held in Hamilton, Ontario in 1930. He finished fifth in the 880 yards event as well as in the 1 mile competition. In the 440 yards contest he was eliminated in the heats. He would go on to compete once more for British Guiana in the1934 British Empire Games in London[6] where he became the first black man to be awarded a gold medal in what are now theCommonwealth Games by winning the 880 yards race.
At McGill, Edwards captained the university track team from 1931 to 1936, leading the team to six consecutive championships. At the international level, Edwards went on to compete in the1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and in the infamous1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, where he was one of a number of black athletes, including American runnerJesse Owens, to compete before the Hitler regime. Edwards earned bronze medals in 1932 in the 800 metres, 1500 metres, and 4 × 400 metre relay event, and in 1936 in the 800 metres event.[5] On the way back from the 1936 games, Edwards was refused lodgings in the London hotel at which the team was booked on account of his race; the full team cancelled their stay at the hotel as a result, preferring to accompany him elsewhere.[6]
While serving as resident house surgeon at the General Hospital in Barbados, Edwards was approached by British Guiana officials with a proposal to run for the colony at the1938 British Empire Games. Edwards was either not interested or could not take the necessary time off. However, in 1939 an untrained and semi-injured Edwards was persuaded to compete in a British Guiana “Olympiad”, ending up fifth in the 880 yards.[4]
Edwards' appearance at the event in British Guiana may have given rise to a report in theIndianapolis Recorder, a Black American newspaper, that the runner ("prominent in medical circles now"), is "training in British Guiana with an eye towards the1940 Finland games inHelsinki".[7] The 1940 Olympics were soon cancelled due to the outbreak ofWorld War II
In 1957, Edwards andJames Worrall were involved in developing Canada's first international sport effort, which assisted young athletes in theEastern Caribbean.[8]
The five bronze medals gave Edwards the nickname 'Man of Bronze', and made him Canada's most prolific Olympic medal-winner; he would be joined in 2002 byMarc Gagnon and laterFrançois-Louis Tremblay and eventually surpassed byCindy Klassen andClara Hughes. Edwards was among the first black athletes to earn an Olympic medal and, along with Hamilton runnerRay Lewis, Toronto'sSam Richardson and Vancouver'sBarbara Howard, one of only a handful of black athletes to represent Canada in the 1920s and 1930s. Edwards was named the inauguralLou Marsh Trophy winner in 1936 as Canada's top athlete.[6][9]
Edwards was inducted into theCanada's Sports Hall of Fame[9][10] and the McGill University Sports Hall of Fame in 1997,[6] and the Quebec Sports Hall of Fame in 2005. An annual award in his name, the Phil A. Edwards Memorial Trophy, has been presented to Canada's outstanding track athlete annually since 1972.[6][9]
He was a member ofAlpha Phi Alpha fraternity at New York University.
Edwards became the first black person to graduate from McGill University's medical school in 1936, immediately before competing in the 1936 Olympic Games and being named Canada's top athlete. He then accepted a three-year position at the General Hospital in Barbados as resident house surgeon. Interrupting his medical career to serve with the Canadian army, Edwards rose to the rank of captain during World War II before returning to Montreal. He earned a graduate medical diploma in 1945 and became a specialist in tropical diseases, joining the staff of Montreal'sRoyal Victoria Hospital and participating in a number of international medical missions. In 1960, Dr. Edwards was a member of a Canadian Red Cross team of four doctors and six nurses working inCoquilhatville inCongo.[6][9][11] Edwards' tenure at the Royal Victoria coincided with that of infamous psychiatristEwen Cameron; outside his tropical medicine work, Edwards was instrumental in rescuing at least one patient whose physical illness had been misdiagnosed and mistreated by Cameron as a psychiatric matter.
At the Amsterdam Olympics, Edwards met his first wife, Edith Margaret Oedelschoff, a native of the former German territory ofAlsace-Lorraine and a resident ofWeehawken, New Jersey. The couple was married in October 1929 at the Episcopal Church of the Crucifixion on 140th Street inNew York City.[12] The marriage appears to have broken up by the early 1940s.[13]
Dr. Edwards was just a few days shy of his 64th birthday when he died of heart problems in 1971. He was survived by his widow Mrs. Diane Edwards and three daughters, Pamela, Dale and Gwendolyn.[11] He is interred in theMount Royal Cemetery in Montreal.[6]
Commonwealth Games champions in men's800 metres | |
|---|---|
| 880 yards (1930–1966) | |
| 800 metres (1970–present) |
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