Four and a half decades later: 4.5 Herm Edwards Cal stories

On Friday night, Herm Edwards will return to Berkeley, California. Once again, he’ll step foot on the grass of California Memorial Stadium, the venue that hosted two of his four years of collegiate football.

Edwards’ Arizona State Sun Devils will head north for a Week 5 battle against No. 15 Cal, one of Edwards’ three alma maters.

A native of Seaside, Calif., the Sun Devil head coach chose to attend the University of California, Berkeley as a freshman in 1972. A year later, he transferred to Monterey Peninsula Junior College only to return to Cal a year later, in 1974. A disagreement with a position coach was the catalyst for the defensive back to once again pack up, heading off to San Diego State for his senior season.

From there, everyone knows what Edwards did. The nine-year NFL playing career, the Miracle at the Meadowlands, the head coach gig for the New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs, the exuberant personality on ESPN. And, now, the coach of Arizona State.

Along the way, his old teammates have kept up with Edwards. Even if they never saw him after his days Berkeley, they all still watched him. Still supported him. Still rooted for him.

When former Cal wide receiver David Bateman (‘72-’74) heard Edwards had stepped away from the ESPN set to take the head job in Tempe, he was a bit surprised. Not that he was getting back into coaching, Bateman always though Edwards was cut out for coaching, but that he would leave ESPN.

“I thoroughly enjoyed his commentary and analysis because he knew what he was talking about,” he said.

Nonetheless, Bateman wanted to still back his former teammate -- even if it took more than watching NFL Live every afternoon. From his home in Walla Walla, Washington, Bateman, for the first time in his life, sent Arizona State a donation. And then …

“And then I send Cal a check for $1 more,” he said with a chuckle. “You have to be loyal.”

Added Chris Mackie (Offensive lineman // ‘72-’74): “I’m hoping (Herm) has much more success … except for Friday night.”

On Friday, Edwards’ former teammates will be able to watch him at California Memorial Stadium. Just as they did 45 years ago. In advance of that game, seven of them reminisced about “Ole Herm.”

Here are four and a half stories, four and a half decades later.

1. Harold Fike (Defensive Back // ‘72-’76) was Edwards’ roommate in both 1972 and 1974. As a freshman, the two lived in one room of suite in Boalt Hall -- “The law dorm,” Fike said -- sharing a living space and bathroom with receiver Steve Rivera and future NFL quarterback, Vince Ferragamo, who both lived in the second room. Edwards, Fike said, was the ultimate clean freak.

Fike: One year we were in Berkley and we were going to go to his home town of Seaside, it’s about two hours away. I think we left at about midnight or one or two in the morning. We’re driving -- I’m sleeping, he’s driving. We get there, it’s about three or four in the morning and I thought we were going to go to his house so I woke up a little bit. He pulls into this self-car wash place. He gets out and starts washing his car.

Then, I guess he knew this guy who operated a donut shop. So we go to the donut place and we knock on the glass door and he lets us in and Herm goes into … it’s almost like he’s on ESPN, he’s been that way since, talking it up. ‘We’ve got hot donuts!’

Then, we go to his house in Seaside and go to sleep. And it’s like six in the morning and I’m like, ‘Man, we just went to sleep. I’m dead tired.’ And he gets up (on about two hours of sleep) and he was ready to go. He’s wide awake.

I just remember we’d get up at six or seven (in the morning) and his mother is cleaning. Washing the dishes. She took the sheets off the bed. You could smell Clorox because she was sanitizing the whole house. The house was modest, but it was like perfect. His mother was German and she had this big German accent. Sometimes you couldn’t understand her but she was real nice.

(At our dorm), Herm would go in the living room and he would pick the lint off the couch. He was spotless. His cars were just immaculate. He would always let us use his car. One time he had a nice Camaro, he’d let me use his Camaro.

2. Nearly every player that spoke about Edwards spoke about how crazy a place Berkeley was in the early 1970s. There were Vietnam protests. The hippie movement was flooding San Francisco. People wanted to drink and smoke weed. One player said you couldn’t walk down the dorm’s hallways without smelling weed. It seemed everyone was participating … expect Herm Edwards.

Fike: Alcohol, that never came into his thoughts. He’d never down anyone else (for drinking or smoking). He just had his ways. He had a big afro, you look at him and you think he’s just a Berkeley radical. In his own way, he was pretty much straight-laced.

Mackie: We were all young and we were in Berkeley and it was a pretty wide open, fast place. We all probably have things in our background that we regret. But I can’t think of anything that he did that he would be regretting at this time. I lived in an apartment complex with him for one year. He was a character, but he was a nice guy.

Ivan Weiss (Linebacker // ‘72-’74): Herm was very confident, very boisterous. Great athlete. He fit right into the Berkeley scene in the early ’70s. The afro. The wild clothes. The ladies liked Herm and he was always fun to be around. It was always fun to be around Herm.

Mackie: He used to walk around saying, “Sweet Herm. Pretty Herm.” We used to hear that a lot. You would say, “Herm, what’s up?” and he would go, “I’ll tell you about Sweet Herm. I can tell you about Pretty Herm.” Kind of like a feedback.

Bateman: He was a very disciplined guy. He worked out religiously. He didn’t consume any alcohol or smoke any weed. He had his eyes on the prize from the get-go. He was always with us. We’d go out and do stuff and whenever we got together he would certainly be with us.

He was a very structured guy. And that was a time when there wasn’t a lot of structure.

Steve Grealish (Linebacker // ‘72-’73): He came to campus in a time of change. When we were on campus, there was tear gas rolling down the street, Vietnam protests. It was the cutting edge of racial change.

We had Professor Harry Edwards. He taught a class on sports and society that we all took. It was really interesting and he was the guy who orchestrated the (1968) Olympic protests with (Tommie Smith and John Carlos) raising their fists. He looked with a little bit of a gentler eye when it came to grading.

Dallas Hickman (Defensive end // ‘72-’74): We had the same class by Harry Edwards. It was a great class. (Herm) attended that class at well, as many of the athletes did because it was meaningful, the subject matter he taught -- especially during that period of time. It was one of the most popular classes on campus. There were 300 or so in the lecture hall and there was standing room only.

Edwards (to AZCentral): When I went there, my eyes were opened. It changed my life. It made me grow up very quickly and made me understand that you know what, you’re going to have to make a decision on some things in life right about now.

3. Edwards was a defensive back for the Golden Bears during his two seasons. He played as a freshman in 1972, the first year freshmen were allowed to play on varsity, and 1974. Cal went 3-8 his freshman year and 7-3-1 his junior year. In ‘74, Edwards intercepted four passes in a game against Washington State, still the school record for most interceptions in a game. Here’s what his teammates thought of Edwards’ as an athlete.

Grealish: (1972) was the first year freshman could play varsity. He was the only guy on our team expect for a punter name Scott Overton and Vince Ferragamo who played on varsity as a freshman. He went up and played varsity and made an impression from the get-go. Played against Ohio State -- Archie Griffin was also a freshman -- and made a few tackles.

Fike: I always thought he was one of the smartest players I’ve ever been around. He never panicked. He knew the game, he could anticipate what was going to happen -- I guess he had it all played out in his mind. If they run this play, I’m going to do X, Y, and Z.

Mackie: I didn’t think about him as a big hitter. He was a smart tackler. I don’t recall him very often sticking his face into someone’s chest. He’d get the wrap around and he’d get his fingers in deep like a tarantula.

Leo Biedermann (Offensive lineman // ‘74-’77): He was one of the leaders out there.

Hickman: He’d just come up with the big plays. There are football players who are very, very skilled. Then there are football players who are very skilled and have a strong will. Herm would be the first to say he wasn’t the fastest, but he understood leverage, he understood the tactics of positioning one’s self and anticipation.

Bateman: He was really kind of annoying because we’d start a (practice) period and our coach would call the same play to start the period every day. We’d go 7-on-7 and it was a 12-yard out to me. He would sit there and he would jump the route every day. He knew it was coming, I knew it was coming … and there was nothing I could do.

Fike: He was also very competitive. I remember this guy was at the University of Illinois. I’ll never forget this guy; his name was Mike Gow (Gow was a defensive back at Illinois in the early ’70s). We read this article and it was like, this guy is leading the country in interceptions. And Herm was like, ‘Who is this guy? I’m better than him.’” He didn’t even know the guy. I think that was the year he had four interceptions in a game. Subtly competitive.

He was a pretty decent basketball player. I thought he should have tried to play (for the Cal team).

Bateman: We’d play basketball and I’d love to go against Herm because he was really competitive. But I couldn’t shoot and he couldn’t miss. It wasn’t as funny at the time. He could do anything athletically.

4. How much did his former teammates actually keep up with Edwards? It turns out, quite a lot. Some have had an occasional run-in or conversation with the ASU coach over the past 45 years. Others have watched everything from afar. All, though, agree, he got into the right profession.

Bateman: It wasn’t really (surprising that he became a coach). He just had this manner about him. He could tell you to go ‘F’ off with a smile on his face and you’d thank him for it.

Hickman: A lot of it had to do with us playing under great men. For him to be able to play under (former NFL coach) Tony Dungy, that is huge. I think, like many of us, he looks at it as paying it forward. He has this opportunity to have a voice and help athletes become better men.

I live in Arizona now and have for 36 years, and it was a great hire by ASU. He surrounded himself with great, competent people. The culture of the team reflects the ideology of the man in charge.

Mackie: I thought he was really good as a sportscaster. I thought he had a lot of insight and credibility. Here’s a guy who parlayed his coaching career and playing career into a spot that he does really well. I was a little surprised to see him give up that gig. I really liked him as a talking head.

Biedermann: It was kind of surprising that he took the Arizona State job, but you couldn’t get a better guy than that.

You’re just proud of (your former teammates) and you hope they remember you. I was in Lake Tahoe for the celebrity golf tournament and I was going to run down Herm. The day we went, something came up and he had to back out. He wasn’t there the day we went but I was looking forward to catching up with him a little bit then because it has been a lot of years.

Fike: I talked to him last year on the phone about getting the job.

I think the last time I saw him was, I think I went down to San Diego and he was coaching the Jets. I went to the (Chargers, Jets game) and they were going into the tunnel after the game was over and I was reaching over, ‘Hey Herm!’ And he’s like, ‘Man, just on down here, come to the locker room.’ And he takes me to the locker room. Same ole Herm.

Hickman: The first (ASU) practice of spring ball, I went down there with a good friend of mine. Of course, I have changed, as all of us do after 40 years, and I just wished him to the Valley, wished him success. It was (instant recognition). He was on the field, I was wondering if I would say something, of course, I would if a time presented itself. He took time before practice to come and talk, we got caught up a little bit.

I got to know him a little better as we went on. I was fortunate to play a little bit in the NFL and in the NFC East. So every year, for six years or so, we saw each other twice a year and would holler at one another.

And a half. Forty-five can take its toll on one’s memory. As his former teammates jogged their memory about interactions with Edwards at Cal, not one of them could recall why he left or even a single conversation in which he spoke about leaving.

Fike: That’s the weirdest thing, (we never talked about it). He was just gone. I don’t recall talking about it. It was his personal decision, and he was just gone.

Hickman: I can’t recall that. He made up his mind.

Biedermann: I’m not really sure why Herm left. I’ve heard stories but I really don’t know.

Bateman: He went and left and then came back, I think. When he came back, he was a good player.

Weiss: It’s just part of life. I transferred. I was a junior college transfer who went to UNLV and then I transferred to Cal.

Edwards has since said he left Cal after the 1972 season because of a disagreement with Cal position coach in which the coach refused to give answers to Edwards’ questions.

Edwards (to AZCentral): I asked him why we were doing something, and he didn’t have an answer," Edwards said. "The answer was, 'Are you questioning authority?' 'No, Coach, I just want to know why we’re doing this,' because I was seeking knowledge.

Black player, big Afro, asking a white football coach, 'Why are we doing this?' That probably wasn’t the right question, but for me, it was because my father always told me you can always ask why.

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