Wayne Edwards . . . Leading to the Olympics

Biographical sketch of Wayne Edwards. This and other articles may be found in the University Archives.

The citation for this article is: "Wayne Edwards . . . Leading to the Olympics," Pieces of Eight, June 1, 1984.

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While many athletes and fans attribute their interest in a sport to another player or coach, Wayne Edwards credits his passion for the game of team handball to the U.S. Army.

It was in 1970 and Edwards was serving as a special services officer for the 8th Infantry Division in Bad Kreuznach, West Germany. "One day the general's aide called and asked if I knew what team handball was. I said, 'Sure, I know all about handball,'" Edwards recalls.

"That's team handball, not handball," the aide said. "In an hour you're supposed to tell the general how you're going to teach this to all 25,000 troops of the 8th Infantry Division." Edwards had a sergeant who spoke fluent German to call the sports office in town and find out what the game was all about. "In an hour I was telling General William Westmoreland all I knew about team handball," he recalls.

His Knowledge Grows

Edwards' knowledge about team handball quickly grew. Today he is one of the country's leading authorities and promoters of the sport.

As an official of the U.S. Team Handball Federation, Edwards has been appointed to the U.S. Team Handball administrative staff, a position that will take him to Los Angeles for the Olympic games this summer. He will handle timing and scorekeeping, media liaison and statistical coordination during competition involving the U.S. Team Handball squad.

A member of the U.S. Women's Team Handball team is former ECU basketball star Leora "Sam" Jones. As director of Intramural/Recreational Services at ECU, Edwards persuaded Sam Jones to switch from basketball to team handball and she made the Olympic team.

"Sam Jomes is an exceptional athlete and an exceptional person," says Edwards. "The amazing thing about her achievement is that she began playing the sport only two years ago." She is now in training for the summer Olympics beginning in July.

Introduced Sport to ECU

A year after coming to ECU in 1975, Edwards introduced the sport as part of the intramural recreation program and it became immensely popular. During the past year, there were 55 intramural teams on campus playing team handball, and club sports teams for both men and women were competing with teams from other schools.

"Most of our competition comes from military schools and from colleges in the northeastern part of the country," Edwards says.

The growing popularity of team handball at ECU is in keeping with Edwards' philosophy on the importance of intramurals.

"Our program has grown. Our staff has doubled since 1975," he says. "Our effort is to provide recreational opportunities for everybody, the total student population. Everybody, regardless of skill, is important. We provide a wide diversity of activity.

"Of course, our objective is not to produce Olympic athletes. It is to provide the best possible program in a number of different areas for our students. The Olympic development is more or less a sideline that just happened. Of course, we are very proud of that but our main objective is the total recreational opportunities for the ECU student population."

Native North Carolinian

Edwards is a native of Spring Hope, North Carolina, and has degrees from Wake Forest and UNC-Chapel Hill and a doctorate in physical education from George Peabody College of Vanderbilt University.

Following military service, he joined the faculty at Appalachian State University as assistant professor of physical education and director of intramural and recreational sports. It follows that during his three years at Appalachian, team handball became a popular intramural sport on the campus in Boone.

In eight years of team handball play at ECU, 14 students have been chosen to compete in the National Sports Festival, the U.S. forerunner to the Olympic Games. Edwards was active in coordinating the last two festivals held in Indianapolis and Syracuse, New York. He is also a member of the U.S. Team Handball Federation, the governing body for team handball in the United States.

On the Olympics

Edwards believes the U.S. Team Handball team's chances for a medal in the Olympics may be somewhat improved by the boycott of the games by the Soviet Union and other communist nations.

"This is going to make our competition easier, but that is certainly not what we're looking for," he says.

"The women's team is better than it has ever been but it is still a long way from what some of the other powers are," Edwards says. The U.S. women have no Olympic competition experience. The men's team, he says, "has a better chance making a good showing in the Olympics."

All in all, Edwards says he hopes the Olympics will increase the interest of Americans in team handball.