The Cal 100: No. 40 -- Dr. Harry Edwards

A long-time sociology professor emeritus at Berkeley, Edwards has been a vocal force for racial justice through sports.

We count down the top 100 individuals associated with Cal athletics, based on their impact in sports or in the world at large – a wide-open category. See if you agree.

No. 40: Dr. Harry Edwards

Cal Sports Connection: Edwards is a sociology professor emeritus at Cal, where he has taught for more than 30 years.

Claim to Fame: Edwards created the Olympic Project for Human Rights, urging Black athletes to boycott the 1968 Mexico City Games, and since then has consulted with many of the nation's top athletes.

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For more than half a century. Dr. Harry Edwards has been a powerful voice against racial injustice and other social issues on the biggest stages in sports, including the 1968 Olympics and with the 49ers and other NFL teams.

Robert Lipsyte, in a 1988 New York Times profile, wrote that Edwards "has seen himself as one who provokes and incites others to action, a reformer, not a revolutionary. And indeed, no other single figure in sports has done as much to make the country aware that the problems of the larger culture are recapitulated in sports, that the arena is no sanctuary from drugs, racism and corruption."

But Edwards, 80, a sociology professor emeritus at Cal for more than three decades, has had a reach beyond the bright lights of sports. Legendary former De La Salle High football coach Bob Ladouceur listened to Edwards lecture more than once and said he always had the rapt attention of his audience.

“He is so dynamic, and hits racial injustices head on,” Ladouceur said. “He changes perspectives on people’s preconceived ideas on what they originally believed . . . before they heard his wisdom, beliefs and amazing life experiences.”

Dr. Harry Edwards visits with former 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garappolo / Photo by Darren Yamashita, USA Today

A basketball player and star discus thrower at San Jose State, Edwards stepped into a brighter spotlight in 1967 when, as a sociology instructor at his alma mater, he founded the Olympic Project for Human Rights, encouraging a boycott of the ’68 Mexico City Olympics by Black athletes.

“We were fighting apartheid in this country,” Edwards said. “We were siding with Africa and with the black African countries.”

The boycott never happened, but U.S. sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos, both from SJSU’s “Speed City” track program, made a clear statement when each accepted his medal for the 200-meter dash with a bowed head and a raised first wearing a black glove.

Edwards subsequently collaborated with a who’s who of Black athletes willing to speak out on issues, including Muhammad Ali, Bill Russell, Jim Brown and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

His associations extended beyond athletes to many of the country’s most influential Civil Rights leaders — Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, James Baldwin and Maya Angelou. He worked with leaders of the Oakland-based Black Panther Party.

“I didn’t expect to live to be 30,” Edwards told the San Jose Mercury News in a recent interview.

That’s probably because he learned years ago he was tailed by FBI agents and that director J. Edgar Hoover included him on a list of people he viewed as anti-American and threats to the country.

All the while, Edwards taught classes at Cal that often were extremely popular, including Sociology of Sport. Still, he was always a polarizing figure, so much so that the sociology department denied him tenure in 1977. He responded by accusing the university of racism.

Edwards never was diverted from his mission. He has consulted with teams from across the NFL, including the 49ers, with whom he worked alongside coach Bill Walsh during the franchise’s run to its first three Super Bowl titles. His title with the 49ers: Consultant of Organizational and Personal Player Development.

He provided mentoring to former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who was black-balled by NFL teams after kneeling quietly during the national anthem in protest of police violence against Africans Americans.

Edwards has called Kaepernick this generation’s Ali, an athlete willing to sacrifice everything for his principles.

The quest for justice continues for Edwards despite an ongoing battle against cancer that he expects will get the final say.

“To be honest, after seeing so much over these 80 years, I’ve come to be more curious about the process than I am concerned about the outcome,” Edwards told the Mercury News. “It is just my turn.”

-- No. 41: Larry Baer

Cover photo of Dr. Harry Edwards by Kirby Lee, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo