George "Big Bertha" Edwards was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Kentucky State College—now known as

Kentucky State University Kentucky State University (KSU and KYSU) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Frankfort, Kentucky. Founded in 1886 as the State Normal School for Colored Persons ...

from 1951 to 1956, compiling a record of 27–27–2.

Football career

Edwards played football at Englewood High School in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, where he earned All-City, All-Chicagoland, and All-State honors. He played college football at

Kentucky State College Kentucky State University (KSU and KYSU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Frankfort, Kentucky. Founded in 1886 as the State Normal School for Colored Persons, and becoming a land-grant college in 1890, KSU is the second-ol ...

from 1934 to 1938, and the team won national championships in 1934 and 1937. He was selected for the 1938 All-Star team that lost to the professional

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

by a score of 51-0. He was selected for All-American honors in 1934 and 1938. He was captain of the 1938 Kentucky State and All-American teams. He also played on the school's basketball team from 1934 to 1937, and in 1999, he was selected as a member of that team's all-time second team. He went on the play two years of semi-professional football, one with the Harlem Brown Bombers, and one with the Patterson Panthers. Edwards coached the

DuSable High School Jean Baptiste Point DuSable High School is a public four-year high school campus located in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. DuSable is owned by the Chicago Public Schools district. The school ...

football team for two seasons, including 1944. He coached basketball at Russellville High School in Kentucky, compiling a 64-11 record and winning a tri-state championship. Edwards returned to Kentucky State in 1947 to be the school's boxing coach and the football backfield coach. He was also head baseball coach in 1950. He was named head football coach on December 1, 1950. Edwards was the 11th head football coach at Kentucky State, and he held that position for six seasons, from 1951 until 1956. His career coaching record at Kentucky State was 27–27–2. He resigned his coaching position effective June 30, 1957. He was an inaugural inductee to the Kentucky State Athletic Hall of Fame in 1975. He was married and had three sons as of 1950.

References

Year of birth missing Year of death missing Kentucky State Thorobreds baseball coaches Kentucky State Thorobreds football players Kentucky State Thorobreds football coaches College boxing coaches in the United States High school basketball coaches in Kentucky High school football coaches in Illinois Sportspeople from Chicago Coaches of American football from Illinois African-American coaches of American football African-American baseball coaches African-American basketball coaches 20th-century African-American sportspeople {{1950s-collegefootball-coach-stub