View source for Phil Edwards (runner)

{{Short description|Canadian middle distance runner (1907–1971)}}
{{redirect|Phil Edwards (athlete)|other sportspeople with this name|Phil Edwards (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox sportsperson
| name           = Phil Edwards
| image          = Phil Edwards 1928.jpg
| image_size     = 
| caption        = Phil Edwards at the 1928 Olympics
| birth_name     = 
| fullname       = Philip Aaron Edwards
| nationality    = Canadian
| residence      = 
| birth_date     = September 23, 1907 
| birth_place    = [[Georgetown, Guyana|Georgetown]], [[British Guiana]]
| death_date     = September 6, 1971 (aged 63) 
| death_place    = [[Montreal]], Quebec, Canada
| height         = {{convert|1.76|m|ftin|abbr=on}}
| weight         = {{convert|64|kg|lb|abbr=on}}
| country        = Canada
| sport          = Running (Track and Field)
| club           = Hamilton Olympic Club
| collegeteam    = [[New York University]] <br /> [[McGill University]]
| retired        = 
| olympics       = 
| highestranking = 
| show-medals    = yes
| medaltemplates =
{{Medal|Country| {{flagicon|CAN|1921}} [[Canada]]}}
{{Medal|Competition| [[Olympic Games]]}}
{{Medal|Bronze| [[1928 Summer Olympics|1928 Amsterdam]] | [[Athletics at the 1928 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 400 metres relay|4×400 metres]]}}
{{Medal|Bronze| [[1932 Summer Olympics|1932 Los Angeles]] | [[Athletics at the 1932 Summer Olympics - Men's 800 metres|800 metres]]}}
{{Medal|Bronze| [[1932 Summer Olympics|1932 Los Angeles]] | [[Athletics at the 1932 Summer Olympics - Men's 1500 metres|1500 metres]]}}
{{Medal|Bronze| [[1932 Summer Olympics|1932 Los Angeles]] | [[Athletics at the 1932 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 400 metres relay|4×400 metres]]}}
{{Medal|Bronze| [[1936 Summer Olympics|1936 Berlin]] | [[Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics - Men's 800 metres|800 metres]]}}
{{Medal|Country | {{flag|British Guiana|1919}} }} 
{{Medal|Competition| [[Commonwealth Games|British Empire Games]]}}
{{Medal|Gold| [[1934 British Empire Games|1934 London]] | [[Athletics at the 1934 British Empire Games|880 yards]]}} 
}}

'''Philip Aaron Edwards''', [[Doctor of Medicine|MD]] (September 23, 1907 – September 6, 1971) was a [[Canadians|Canadian]] and [[Guyana|Guyanese]] [[track and field]] athlete who competed in [[middle distance running|middle-distance events]]. Nicknamed the "Man of Bronze", he was Canada's most-decorated [[Olympic Games|Olympian]] for many years. He was the first-ever winner of the [[Lou Marsh Trophy]] as Canada's top athlete. He went on to serve as a captain in the [[Canadian Forces|Canadian army]] and as a highly regarded [[physician]] and expert of [[tropical disease]]s.

__TOC__

==Early life==
Edwards was born in [[Georgetown, Guyana|Georgetown]], [[British Guiana]] (now [[Guyana]]), to a family of thirteen children. His father was a magistrate, and the family was part of the [[Afro-Guyanese]] elite in the colony. Edwards' father was one of eighteen children and was originally from [[Barbados]]. Less is known of his mother, but it is thought that she may originally have been from [[Trinidad]].<ref name="Humber2004">{{cite book|author=William Humber|title=A Sporting Chance: Achievements of African-Canadian Athletes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bqL5KapfefkC&pg=PA70|date=22 November 2004|publisher=Dundurn|isbn=978-1-896219-99-8|pages=70–}}</ref> In a 1928 ''[[New York Daily News]]'' article, it was stated that Edwards' paternal grandmother was [[India|East Indian]] and his maternal grandfather was [[Scotland|Scottish]] and that fellow Olympian [[Jack London (athlete)|Jack London]] was a classmate of his at [[Queen's College, Guyana|Queen'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.<ref>"Angry Cow Instilled Speed In Phil Edwards of N.Y.U.", [[New York Daily News]], 20 May 1928 p.30</ref>

==Athletics career==
===New York University===
By the age of 16, Edwards dominated track events at his school. After graduating, he left British Guiana and moved to the [[United States]], enrolling at [[New 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 to [[New York City|New York]], where they founded a law and real estate firm in [[Harlem]]. Under the guidance of NYU coach [[Emil 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.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/phil-edwards|title=Phil Edwards|encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]]|access-date=September 7, 2019}}</ref><ref name="Lagerstroem">{{Cite journal| last = Lagerstroem |first = Ulf |date=March 2011|title=Mr. 800: Phil Edwards (Brit. Guiana/Canada)|journal = Journal of Olympic History|volume=19|issue=1|pages=36–39|url=http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/JOH/JOHv19n1/JOHv19n1g.pdf|access-date=1 August 2018}}</ref>

===Olympics and British Empire Games===
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 by [[Melville Marks Robinson|Melville Marks (Bobby) Robinson]], manager of the Canadian Olympic track and field team, to compete for Canada in the [[1928 Summer Olympics]], where Edwards won a bronze medal as part of Canada's 4 × 400 metre relay team.<ref name=sr>[https://web.archive.org/web/20200417051712/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ed/phil-edwards-2.html Phil Edwards]. Sports Reference.com</ref>

Following Amsterdam, Edwards left New York University to attend Montreal's [[McGill 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-ever [[1930 British Empire Games|British 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 the [[1934 British Empire Games]] in London<ref name=r1/> where he became the first black man to be awarded a gold medal in what are now the [[Commonwealth 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 the [[1932 Summer Olympics]] in Los Angeles and in the infamous [[1936 Summer Olympics]] in Berlin, where he was one of a number of black athletes, including American runner [[Jesse 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.<ref name=sr/> 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.<ref name=r1/>

===Post-Olympics===
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 the [[1938 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.<ref name="Lagerstroem"/>

Edwards' appearance at the event in British Guiana may have given rise to a report in the ''[[Indianapolis Recorder]]'', a Black American newspaper, that the runner ("prominent in medical circles now"), is "training in British Guiana with an eye towards the [[1940 Summer Olympics|1940 Finland games]] in [[Helsinki]]".<ref>"Beatin' the Gun", [[Indianapolis Recorder]], 2 September 1939 p.16</ref> The 1940 Olympics were soon cancelled due to the outbreak of [[World War II]]

In 1957, Edwards and [[James Worrall]] were involved in developing Canada's first international sport effort, which assisted young athletes in the [[Eastern Caribbean]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Phil Edwards|url=https://www.sportshall.ca/hall-of-famers/hall-of-famers-search.html?proID=339&catID=all&lang=EN|publisher=sportshall.ca|access-date=17 July 2019}}</ref>

===Recognition===
[[File:Lloyd Hahn, Phil Edwards, Séra Martin 1928.jpg|thumb|left|Edwards (middle) in a semi final of the 800 metres at the [[1928 Summer Olympics|1928 Olympics]].]]
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 by [[Marc Gagnon]] and later [[François-Louis Tremblay]] and eventually surpassed by [[Cindy Klassen]] and [[Clara Hughes]]. Edwards was among the first black athletes to earn an Olympic medal and, along with Hamilton runner [[Ray Lewis (track and field)|Ray Lewis]], Toronto's [[Sam Richardson (athlete)|Sam Richardson]] and Vancouver's [[Barbara Howard (athlete)|Barbara Howard]], one of only a handful of black athletes to represent Canada in the 1920s and 1930s. Edwards was named the inaugural [[Lou Marsh Trophy]] winner in 1936 as Canada's top athlete.<ref name=r1/><ref name=r2/>

Edwards was inducted into the [[Canada's Sports Hall of Fame]]<ref name=r2>Zukerman, Earl (30 May 2013) [http://rseq.ca/sports/athletisme/universitaire/nouvelles/mcgill-13-mai/ McGill Olympian Phil Edwards gets call from Athletics Canada Hall of Fame]. rseq.ca</ref><ref>[http://www.sportshall.ca/stories.html?proID=339&catID=&lang=EN PHIL EDWARDS] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141007001437/http://www.sportshall.ca/stories.html?proID=339&catID=&lang=EN |date=2014-10-07 }}. sportshall.ca</ref> and the McGill University Sports Hall of Fame in 1997,<ref name=r1>[http://www.mcgillathletics.ca/hof.aspx?hof=12&path=&kiosk= Dr. Phil Edwards Class of 1936]. mcgillathletics.ca</ref> 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.<ref name=r1/><ref name=r2/>

He was a member of [[Alpha Phi Alpha]] fraternity at New York University.

==Medical career==
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's [[Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal|Royal 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 in [[Mbandaka|Coquilhatville]] in [[Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville)|Congo]].<ref name=r1/><ref name=r2/><ref name=r3>"Dr. Phil Edwards Dies at 66; Ran for Canada in 3 Olympics", New York Times, 8 September 1971 p.49</ref> Edwards' tenure at the Royal Victoria coincided with that of infamous psychiatrist [[Donald Ewen Cameron|Ewen 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.

==Personal life and family==
At the Amsterdam Olympics, Edwards met his first wife, Edith Margaret Oedelschoff, a native of the former German territory of [[Alsace-Lorraine]] and a resident of [[Weehawken, New Jersey]]. The couple was married in October 1929 at the Episcopal Church of the Crucifixion on 140th Street in [[New York City]].<ref>"Athlete To Wed French Girl; New York", [[Indianapolis Recorder]], 12 October 1929 p.16</ref> The marriage appears to have broken up by the early 1940s.<ref>{{cite web|title=Yarrill, Eric|url=https://www.fcfq.coop/en/death-notices/eric-yarrill-150002/|publisher=The Federation of Funeral Cooperatives of Québec |access-date=16 July 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190716224258/https://www.fcfq.coop/en/death-notices/eric-yarrill-150002/ | archive-date = 16 July 2019 | url-status = live}}</ref>

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.<ref name=r3/> He is interred in the [[Mount Royal Cemetery]] in Montreal.<ref name=r1/>

== References ==
{{Commons category|Phil Edwards (athlete)}}
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8nd9tqaXR8 1934 British Empire Games]

==Bibliography==
*John Cooper, ''Rapid Ray: The Story of Ray Lewis'' (Toronto: Tundra Books, 2002. {{ISBN|0-88776-612-9}}.
*Lorne Zeiler, ''Hearts of Gold'' (Toronto: Raincost Books, 2004. {{ISBN|1-55192-684-9}}.) [https://web.archive.org/web/20060215225545/http://raincoast.com/olympics/index.html]

{{Footer Commonwealth Champions 800m Men}}
{{Footer US NC 800m Men}}
{{USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners in men's 600 m}}
{{Lou Marsh Trophy}}
{{Lionel Conacher Award}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Phil}}
[[Category:1907 births]]
[[Category:1971 deaths]]
[[Category:Canadian male middle-distance runners]]
[[Category:Black Canadian sportsmen]]
[[Category:Black Canadian track and field athletes]]
[[Category:Guyanese people of African descent]]
[[Category:Guyanese male middle-distance runners]]
[[Category:Northern Star Award winners]]
[[Category:Olympic track and field athletes for Canada]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1928 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1932 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Olympic bronze medalists for Canada]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1930 British Empire Games]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1934 British Empire Games]]
[[Category:Commonwealth Games gold medallists for British Guiana]]
[[Category:Canadian sportspeople of Barbadian descent]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:Canadian sportspeople of Indian descent]]
[[Category:Guyanese emigrants to Canada]]
[[Category:Guyanese people of Barbadian descent]]
[[Category:Guyanese people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:Track and field athletes from Montreal]]
[[Category:Athletes from Georgetown, Guyana]]
[[Category:Canadian Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Anglophone Quebec people]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1928 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1932 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Alumni of Queen's College, Guyana]]
[[Category:NYU Violets athletes]]
[[Category:New York University alumni]]
[[Category:McGill University Faculty of Medicine alumni]]
[[Category:Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field)]]
[[Category:Canadian tropical physicians]]
[[Category:Canadian expatriates in the Democratic Republic of the Congo]]
[[Category:Burials at Mount Royal Cemetery]]
[[Category:Canadian Army officers]]
[[Category:Medallists at the 1934 British Empire Games]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian sportsmen]]
[[Category:Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics]]