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A halfback and a quarterback in football, a guard in basketball, a pitcher and utilityman in baseball, and a sprinter and long-jumper in track, Fred Edmonds didn't start school at the then Norfolk Division of the College of William and Mary expecting to become the first and probably only letter winner in four major sports in the school's history.
"Tommy Scott, who coached most of the Division's teams then, came up to me my first day on campus and told me he wanted me to play football. I told him that I had never played football, and that I had only played basketball and baseball at Maury. He said, "of course, you can play football, you can run, can't you?" Well, I could run and I came out that day, "Edmonds recalls.
He became a regular halfback the next year, with the Division Braves playing its typical Heinz-variety schedule that included four-year colleges, freshman teams, military teams and others. The next year he was quarterback, for five games before he left school to take a promising job during the nation's worst depression. That team was good enough to be invited to a post-season game in Miami.
When football ended, Edmonds donned a basketball uniform. Later he managed to combine both baseball and track. He captained both basketball and baseball teams two different years. He led the cagers through the 1934-35 seasons to 11-6 and 10-6 records and paced the 1935 and 1936 baseball squads. Edmonds, who once chaired the campus Honor Council and was vice president of the IMPS Club, credits his former coach Tommy Scott, with a special role in his own athletic career.
"I played those sports because Tommy Scott opened the door for me. Everyone played for Scott and enjoyed it. He loved athletics and would stay there for hours working with you," said Edmonds.