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PROVO — Hundreds gathered Friday night to remember the life of Ruben LaVell Edwards, who died Dec. 29 in his home.
Many knew him as the legendary BYU football coach who led the Cougars to the 1984 national championship and revolutionized college football.
But that was far from the only tribute he received in a public memorial presided over by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“In the last week or so, I have received many texts and emails in tribute to my father. There’s been a theme to them: he valued the person over the sport,” said Jimmy Edwards, LaVell’s son. “More important to him were personal relationships, stopping to speak and give a leg up.”
Almost everybody has a personal story with the Edwards family. BYU associate athletic director Brian Santiago, who also presides as bishop over the Edwards’ LDS church ward in Provo and conducted the memorial, shared of a time his young son remarked how intriguing it was that “Brother Edwards” was named after the BYU football stadium.
To that little boy, who is currently serving a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Hall of Fame football coach was just another friend and neighbor.
“LaVell was a hall of fame coach, but his legacy as a man and a disciple of Jesus Christ will never be forgotten,” Santiago said. “He was right with the Lord.”
Complete video of LaVell Edwards' memorial service
Elder Holland shared his own memories of Edwards from his time as president of BYU — when it was a stoic-faced football coach who maintained the face of the university.
“I think that only the university’s namesake is a better link to the school than LaVell Edwards,” Elder Holland said. “Now that is not bad.
“Not one person would’ve made me football coach,” he added. “But there were legions who would’ve made him president of the university if he had wanted it.”
The Apostle shared a letter from the church’s First Presidency addressed to Patti and the family, and invited all in attendance to remember LaVell Edwards not only as a football coach, but for his devotion to family, faith and community.
"Football is what Patti and LaVell did,” he said. “But disciples of Christ is what they were.” More than a football coach, Edwards was remembered as a people person.
“He saw in others things they didn’t see in themselves,” said Jimmy Edwards, one of the Edwards’ three children. “He loved to be with people.”
The warm relationships extended beyond his family and immediate friend’s circle, to each of his players, coaching associates and even the media who covered him.
“My father didn’t care what a person did, but he was more interested in how he did it,” John Edwards said. “He taught us that your profession wasn’t important, but how you performed your profession.”
Even his former players remembered Edwards as more than a coach. Robbie Bosco played quarterback at BYU From 1983-85, and he knew Edwards for 35 years, including in his time as BYU golf coach. He’s most remembered for the 1984 national championship season, which started with a win over Pitt that ended with a significant back injury and with him throwing for 3,875 yards and 33 touchdowns.
On the plane ride after the season opener, Bosco couldn’t sit in his seat and laid down in the airplane aisle to rest his ailment. After he arrived home, he asked his good friend John Edwards for a priesthood blessing.
A few minutes after the phone call, the coach’s son also showed up with his father — something that surprised the then-recent convert to the LDS faith.
“He talked. He loved. He administered,” Bosco said. “That’s LaVell Edwards in a nutshell.
“We’ll be talking about LaVell Edwards for a long time. He was a true disciple of Jesus Christ. That’s the way he lived his life.”
Edwards was known for maintaining relationships with his players long after he graduated. But there was one relationship he valued the most, Bosco said: his wife Patti.
“He was one with Patti Edwards,” he said. “There weren’t a lot of conversations I heard that didn’t start out with ‘Patti and LaVell.’ They were one amazing family.”
Family was everything to Edwards, his son John said in remarks representing the couple’s three children.
“He put family first, long before it was a trending hashtag,” John Edwards said before sharing a story of LaVell Edwards surprising one of his boys with a root beer and news of his promotion to the head coaching job in 1974.
“I don’t know if he was the first (to know). But to that little boy, he felt like the first, and that was all that mattered.”
Hundreds of former players from Bosco to Jim McMahon, Trevor Matich, Gary Sheide, Vai Sikahema and more, remembered the life and legacy of LaVell Edwards, whose approach continues to impact BYU athletics to this day, as evidenced by the appearance of current football coach Kalani Sitake, basketball coach Dave Rose and university president Kevin J. Worthen.
But Bosco said his coach hasn’t finished impacting thousands of people.
“That legacy doesn’t end now with his passing,” Bosco said. “His legacy will go on for generations and generations.”
