Dr. Philip Aron Edwards, was born on Sept. 13, 1907 at Georgetown, British Guiana. He graduated from McGill medical school in 1936, and received a graduate diploma in medicine in 1945, specializing in tropical diseases.
He was the first black athlete from McGill to compete in the Olympics and the first Canadian Olympian to win five Olympic medals, racking up five bronzes over three Olympiads -- in 1928 at Amsterdam Games, 1932 at Los Angeles and 1936 in Berlin.
In Amsterdam he won bronze in the 4x400m relay and finished fourth in 800m. At Los Angeles he captured three bronze medals (800m, 1500m and 4x400m).
At Berlin he won bronze in the 800m, placed fourth in 4x400m relay and was fifth in 1500m. In 1936, Edwards became the first winner of the Lou Marsh trophy, as Canada's most outstanding athlete, and also received the Lionel Conacher Award, presented by The Canadian Press to Canada's male athlete of the year.
He was consistently McGill's top scorer in track & field and led the Redmen to six consecutive championships, captaining the team in each of his last five seasons (1931-36).
Edwards was also Canadian intercollegiate track champion in various events numerous times and established many McGill, Canadian and American track records.
The only four-time winner of 600-yard race at American indoor track nationals (1928-31) he held 13 national bests, seven second-best performances and five third bests from 1927 to 1936.
He competed for British Guiana at British Empire Games (1930-34) and won gold in half mile at 1934 Games in London. Edwards was a member of Martlet Society and a McGill fraternity. He also served as a captain with the Canadian army in World War II.
He died in Montreal on Sept. 6, 1971 and shortly afterwards, the "Phil Edwards Memorial Trophy", was established to be presented annually to Canada's most outstanding track athlete.
He was also inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1997 and the Athletics Ontario Hall of Fame in 2017.
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Phil Edwards: The Man of Bronze
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