Edwards has dedicated his professional life to teaching, writing and activism in an attempt to raise the nation’s consciousness about racial injustice, barriers and inequities in our society through examples in sport.
Edwards' career has focused on the experiences of African-American athletes and he is a strong advocate of black participation in the management of professional sports. Now a retired college professor in sociology, his research interests were in the areas of sociology of sport, family, race and ethnic relations.
Edwards completed both his master’s (1966) and Ph.D degree (1971) at Cornell University. After earning his doctorate, Edwards began a distinguished, three-decade career as a professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley where he is now a Professor Emeritus. He is the co-founder of the Institute of Study of Sport, Society and Social Change at San José State. In addition, Edwards received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters at the 2016 San José Commencement where he served as its Commencement speaker.
During his undergraduate days at San José State, he participated in basketball and set records in the discus while a member of the track and field team. After graduating in 1964 with a degree in sociology, Edwards had three choices: professional football, professional basketball, or graduate school. He chose graduate school, and completed his master’s degree at Cornell University. He returned to San José State as a sociology instructor in 1966 – as the civil rights movement was gaining momentum.
As author of
The Revolt of the Black Athlete, Edwards was the architect of the Olympic Project for Human Rights during the civil rights movement. During the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, one of the most iconic moments in the history of sport took place as part of this human rights movement when two African-America athletes on the Olympic medal stand, Tommie Smith and John Carlos (both San José State athletes), bowed their heads and raised their fists in the Black Power Salute protest for equality.
Edwards has served as a staff consultant to the NFL’s San Francisco and NBA’s Golden State Warriors franchises, and has also been involved in recruiting black talent for front-office positions in Major League Baseball. He also served as a consultant to two luminaries who also graduated from San José State: former MLB commissioner Peter Ueberroth (’59 Business), and the late San Francisco 49ers head coach Bill Walsh (’55 BA, ’58 MA Education).
A prolific writer and lecturer, he has authored four books: “The Struggle That Must Be,” “Sociology of Sports,” “Black Students,” and “The Revolt of the Black Athlete” and has been a frequent contributor to major news outlets and magazine, including
New York Times,
Sports Illustrated,
Psychology Today and
Atlantic Monthly.