Edwards' fame grows

NEW YORK — Coaching and college football have taken LaVell Edwards beyond dare-to-dream-of destinations.

As BYU's head football coach for three decades, Edwards anchored the Cougar sideline for 361 games played from sea to shining sea — and farther, including Hawaii, Japan and Australia. He toured the world — actually, golfed the globe — at the invitation of Nike or as payment for working clinics with legendary peers Duffy Daugherty and Bud Wilkinson. He hoisted a national championship trophy, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee and swapped stories with the president of the United States in the White House.

Today, coaching and college football return him to New York City, where Edwards and his wife, Patti, spent 18 months for reasons other than football. It's taking him to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, home of $800-a-night rooms, $150-a-plate banquets and black-tie-only affairs in multitiered ballrooms, where Edwards first visited as a 40-something coach, never imagining he would be the guest of honor 30 years later.

His profession and his sport are finding him a permanent location — not for him personally, rather for his legacy as one of the game's most respected, successful coaches.

Tonight at the Waldorf-Astoria, Edwards and 13 others will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, followed by an August enshrinement at the hall in South Bend, Ind.

So, after 29 years as head coach, an overall record of 257-101-3, a .716 winning percentage, 21 conference titles, 22 bowl games and the No. 6 spot on all-time victories, how does Edwards respond to becoming Fame-ous?

In trademark LaVell-speak — "Obviously, I'm pleased," the 74-year-old Edwards said recently from his Provo east bench home overlooking BYU and the 65,000-seat football stadium that bears his name. "I still find it hard to believe that so many good things have happened."

Raised in an Orem family of 14 children, attending college was more rarity than rule. But by the ninth grade, Edwards had set his mind to be a coach, solidified by lifelong impressions left by his football and basketball coaches, Sanky Dixon and Val Briggs.

After a Utah State University playing career and a two-year Army stint, Edwards first taught and coached at Davis and Granite high schools, then became a BYU assistant coach — the incoming head coach ran the same single-wing offense Edwards used at Granite.

After Edwards was named head coach in 1972, a mediocre Cougar program took off — winning seasons, conference titles, bowl games, top 10 rankings, bowl victories, undefeated seasons, a national championship and high expectations.