Thursday December 04, 2008

Dr. Robert Cook Edwards

Dr. Robert Cook Edwards
Across the Clemson community this morning people are sharing stories of Dr. Robert Cook Edwards who passed away earlier today. I wanted to add a few personal notes as well.

Dr. Edwards is without question the single most important and impressive man in Clemson’s post-19th century history. No president or individual for that matter meant more to Clemson since the turn of last century and words will never be able to describe his true impact on the university and this community.

Last year I wrote a blog on Bob Bradley that was entitled “The Greatest Tiger”. Today I wanted to write about Dr. Edwards, the best Clemson has ever or will ever know.

The day before Thanksgiving I had the privilege to go to visit Dr. Edwards one last time. Terry Long of Merrill Lynch here in Clemson was a close personal friend of Dr. Edwards for many years. In fact when Dr. Edwards’ late wife, Louise, had gotten too sick to attend Clemson United Methodist Church with Dr. Edwards it was Terry who accompanied him every Sunday. Terry invited Clemson soccer coach Trevor Adair and I to go to the Seneca Hospice to visit Dr. Edwards last Wednesday, a day I will never forget.

He looked well but life had turned difficult for this great Tiger. I told him Dabo mentioned him at the press conference the day before and asked for prayers for him. Dr. Edwards mustered up enough energy for one of his famous fist pumps.

When we were leaving Hospice I had come to terms with the fact that this was the last time I would see Dr. Edwards here on earth but I felt comfortable knowing he was almost ready to go. He had mentioned to his daughter, Nancy, that he was ready to go to Cemetery Hill and be with Louise.

I say almost ready. He had one more thing he wanted to do. Some of my fondest memories of Dr. Edwards came in the parking lot of Jervey Athletic Center. Every time a Clemson athletic team was leaving for a road game, Dr. Edwards was there to send them off. He greeted the team and coaches to wish them luck. The send off was not complete until he gave them that famous fist pump as the busses pulled out of the parking lot. I don’t know how many years he did this but it was as long as I could remember.

Friday, Dr. Edwards wanted to send off his Tigers just one more time. So EMS was called and they loaded him up in an ambulance and transported him on a stretcher to Jervey. He greeted James Davis, C.J. Spiller and the boys and had a nice conversation with Dabo. But his journey was not complete until one last fist pump.

The Leader
I find some irony in the fact that he had a hat signed by Dabo on when he sent the Tigers off to Anderson to prepare for the following day’s 31-14 over the Gamecocks. It was Dabo’s leadership skills that helped him land the job the 72 hours later. Ironic, in that Clemson had not seen a leader like R.C. Edwards.

His last days as president was in 1978 so I don’t remember him in that role but his leadership was legendary. I know many people that worked at the university during his presidency and they will tell you that there was no doubt who was in charge. Dr. Edwards had a presence about him. This was his show. There were no committees. Dr. Edwards made decisions and he made them with conviction. He was the leader. When things went wrong, he was there to held accountable as well.

He decided the direction of the university in leading it from an all-male military institution into a University. Under his direction Clemson admitted females for the first time. Under his direction Clemson was a leader and a blue print for how southern colleges should integrate. Under his guidance Clemson became a major, national university. It was Dr. Edwards who stood up to the federal government and their plans to flood much of Clemson with the lake.

The Changes
When he entered Clemson he was 15 years old. His father was a strict disciplinarian who did not allow his son to play sports because it would interfere with studies. Some feel that was a major reason why Dr. Edwards was such a sports nut. Since he could not play them as a kid, he became a kid again with each season watching his Tigers.

Dr. Edwards is one of the few inducted into the Clemson Athletic Hall of Fame that was never an athlete at Clemson. He was a manager on the football team and it has been said that no one ever took more pride in that role.

He graduated from Clemson in 1933 and returned to Clemson as a vice president 23 years later. In his 21 years as president, Dr. Edwards over saw perhaps the most important changes in the school’s history. As a freshman Dr. Edwards attended an all-male military school. When he left office as the president, he left behind one of the country’s top universities.

I will leave it for others to share their wonderful stories of how Clemson set the example of integration with class and dignity. Others can share more personal stories of the school accepting its first females and first African-Americans. Others can give a much better recollection on his role in saving Clemson from the Corps of Engineers.

I would encourage the younger Tigers to research those historic stories to gain a better perspective of his impact. However, I wanted to share some personal experiences about this graceful gentleman.

The first time I can remember Dr. Edwards was as a ten-year old sitting in Death Valley. It was Dr. Edwards who little legs seemed to going 100 MPH running down the hill before the Clemson-Carolina game that year. Steve Fuller, Lester Brown and Marvin Sims all rushed for over 100 yards that day as the Tigers clobbered the Gamecocks in the last football game in Dr. Edwards’ presidency.

The first time I had a chance to meet him was as an 18-year old freshman at Clemson. I was working as a student assistant in the sports information office for Bob Bradley. Mr. B was the official scorer for the baseball games and I was running the scoreboard for some of the games that year. Dr. Edwards missed very few baseball games during my five years at Clemson and he loved to keep his scorebook of each game. Some of my fondest memories were of some of the rain delays when I would corner Dr. Edwards and beg him for more stories. I may have been the only guy at Tiger Field that wanted it to rain.

The single fondest memory I have came at the president’s house on campus about six or seven years ago. I was there for a function and Dr. Edwards was there as well. I asked him of his memories of his time at the president’s house. It was amazing listening to a man in his late eighties recall specific dates from fifty years earlier. He told me that he and Louise had to live away from the house at first because of renovations but he named the date they moved in in 1958. He remembered the exact date and every detail!

Dr. Edwards was a brilliant man. He was a leader like no other. As a president he was remembered for being tough when he had to be. However, I remember him as a sweet and compassionate man that he showed later in life. I remember his kind, sweet voice. I remember his walk that he was relegated to in his late stages too.

Clemson athletics never had a bigger fan than R.C. Edwards. I know of no one that loved Clemson more than Dr. Edwards. In fact, I don’t know too many people who loved anything the way Dr. Edwards loved Clemson.

The founding fathers of Clemson had an obvious affect on its history, but since its formation, no one has had or will ever have the impact that Dr. Robert Cook Edwards had on Clemson.

Dr. Edwards,
Thank you so much for giving your life to our great university. God Bless you, sir. I know you are finally at peace and are home again with Louise but we will miss you here in Tigertown. Go Tigers!

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