‘Red’ Edwards presented with prestigious Ed Barker Award at annual OAT&CCC Banquet

Don “Red” Edwards, seated cen­ter, was the recip­i­ent of the “The Ed Barker Award” at The Ohio Asso­ci­a­tion of Track and Cross Coun­try Coaches annual Hall of Fame Ban­quet held last Fri­day at the Hilton at Eas­ton in Colum­bus. Join­ing Edwards at the ban­quet from Big Wal­nut High School were Sarah Brubaker, left, and Kyra Smith, right; and, stand­ing, from left, Ath­letic Direc­tor Steve Gle­senkamp, Joe Evener, Gary Bran­don and Mike Ryder. (Submitted)

By GARY HENERY

News Man­ag­ing Editor

Don “Red” Edwards, long­time track and field coach at Big Wal­nut High School, was hon­ored with the “The Ed Barker Award” last Fri­day at The Ohio Asso­ci­a­tion of Track and Cross Coun­try Coaches (OAT&CCC) annual Hall of Fame Ban­quet held at the Hilton at Eas­ton in Columbus.

“I was very happy and sur­prised, it was some­thing I could not believe receiv­ing such a high honor,” Edwards said after receiv­ing the honor. “It’s some­thing I never dreamed of receiv­ing … It’s some­thing I never expected.”

The “Ed Barker Award” is given in acknowl­edg­ment to the indi­vid­ual who has shown the most excep­tional ser­vice to the OAT&CCC and to the sports of track and cross country.

Edwards, who was intro­duced by Big Wal­nut High School Ath­letic Direc­tor Steve Gle­senkamp, has given more than 50 years of ser­vice to the sport of track and field in Ohio.

He started coach­ing at Big Wal­nut in 1957 and, except for a few years, has remained involved with the Golden Eagle pro­gram. He started Big Walnut’s boys and girls cross coun­try pro­grams at the high school level and began the mid­dle school pro­grams in 1985.

Edwards also coached the Women’s Divi­sion of the Ohio Track Club in Cen­tral Ohio and in 1976 he started the Sun­bury Track Club in which he still remains active.

In addi­tion to receiv­ing the Barker Awards, Edwards also had the oppor­tu­nity to meet for­mer United States Olympian Har­ri­son Dil­lard who was a guest at the banquet.

“That was quite a thrill to meet Har­ri­son and have the oppor­tu­nity to talk about his track expe­ri­ences,” Edwards said. Dil­lard com­peted in both the 1948 and 1952 Olympics, win­ning gold medals in the 100 meters in 1948 and the high hur­dles in 1952.

Per­haps even more than his coach­ing, “Red” is know for his out­stand­ing col­lec­tion of track and field mem­o­ra­bilia. After he started it in 1954, his col­lec­tion has grown so much that he bought the house next door and now uses it for a museum. It is free to the public.

Items housed in “Red’s” museum are from around the world and his Ohio col­lec­tion is an excep­tional show­case. Since 1985, he has dis­played many of these items at the OAT&CCC’s annual clinic. They not only edu­cate, but enhance the his­toric impor­tance of track and field in Ohio.

“It’s been an honor to dis­play my track and cross coun­try mem­o­ra­bilia at the clinic since 1985,” Edwards said.

The Ohio Asso­ci­a­tion of Track and Cross Coun­try Coaches clinic is one of the largest track clin­ics in the United States, draw­ing more than 1,400 coaches every year.

Posted by Gary Henery on Feb 9 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.