Sunday, January 1, 2017

RIP, LAVELL . . . THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND




Oct. 11, 1930 — Born in Orem.
1947 — Played on state championship team and was an all-state center and linebacker at Lincoln High in Orem.
1948 to 1952 — Went to school and played football at Utah State, graduating in 1952 after being an all-conference center.
1954 to 1962 — Coached for eight years at Granite High School in Salt Lake City. His teams never had a winning record.
1962 — Hired by BYU coach Hal Mitchell as an assistant coach in charge of the defensive line.

1972 — Named head coach of BYU. In his first year, the Cougars go 7-4 and halfback Pete Van Valkenburg wins NCAA rushing title.


1973 — Cougars start to pass the ball more often, but go just 5-6 on the year. It was Edwards' only losing season. QB Gary Sheide is runner-up in the NCAA in passing. Jay Miller leads the nation in pass receiving (100 receptions for 1,181 yards).


1974 — BYU wins the WAC championship and gains its first-ever postseason berth, the Fiesta Bowl.

1976 — Cougars tie for the WAC title and play in the Tangerine Bowl under the direction of Gifford Nielsen.


1977 — BYU leads the nation in passing and is second in scoring with Marc Wilson as the quarterback.

1978 — Marc Wilson and Jim McMahon share QB duties as the Cougars go to the first-ever Holiday Bowl, starting a string of 17 consecutive bowl appearances. Edwards also receives a doctorate degree in education from BYU.



1979 — Edwards received the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year award after guiding BYU to an 11-1 record.


1980 — Cougs lead the nation in total offense, passing and scoring for the second consecutive season. and they go to the Holiday Bowl for the third in a row. This time the Cougars and McMahon pull out a miracle by beating SMU, 46-45, after trailing by 21 points with four minutes to play.

1981 — After leading the Cougars to an 11-2 record and a Holiday Bowl win over Washington State, Edwards coaches the West to a victory in the Hula Bowl.


1982 — Cougar Stadium is expanded to 65,000 seats. Games continue to sell out.
1983 — BYU, under Steve Young, finishes the year at No. 7 in the polls, the best ever up to that point.


1984 — Cougars are the only team in the nation to go unbeaten, at 13-0, winning the national championship in Robbie Bosco's junior season. Edwards was named National Coach of the Year for the second time. Edwards turns down offers to be head coach for the Detroit Lions and for the Texas Longhorns, shortly after the 1984 season.


1986 — Edwards passes Arizona State's Frank Kush as the winningest coach in WAC history.
1989 — BYU wins the WAC for the first time in three seasons. Sophomore Ty Detmer leads the Cougars to the Holiday Bowl, where they lose a heart-breaker to Penn State.


1990 — Detmer becomes the first Cougar to win the Heisman Trophy.


1991 — Cougars tie with Iowa in the Holiday Bowl in Detmer's final game, after finishing the final nine games of the regular season with eight wins and a tie.
1994 — BYU beats both Notre Dame and Oklahoma. The Cougars' Copper Bowl victory is Edwards' first since 1988.
1996 — The Cougars complete the longest season in Division I history with a glossy 14-1 record after beating Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl, BYU's first-ever New Year's Day game.


20 Year Anniversary

1999 — BYU ties Utah and Colorado State for the first-ever Mountain West Conference title.



2000 — Edwards, with an all-time record of 257-101-3 (174-43-2 conference), announces his retirement after 29 seasons. Prior to his final game coached, Cougar Stadium was renamed "LaVell Edwards Stadium" in his honor. At his retirement, Edwards was ranked sixth in all-time coaching victories.


2002 --- Winter Olympics torch bearer


2002-2003 — Edwards, with his wife Patti, served an 18-month mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in New York.

2003 — Edwards received the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award, which is given to to the, "individual, group or institution whose services have been outstanding in the advancement of the best interests of football."
2004 — Edwards' tremendous career was immortalized as he was inducted into the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame.


Dec. 29, 2016 — Died at the age of 86.








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