The late Bill Walsh (1931-2007) and Dr. Harry Edwards, two of San Jose State University's best-known alums, are featured together in the NFL Films video "A Letter to Bill Walsh."
Walsh, a member of the 1952 and 1953 San Jose State football teams, would go on to lead the San Francisco 49ers to three Super Bowl championships and is enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Dr. Edwards, a Spartan basketball team captain and one-time school record holder in the discus throw in the early 1960's, is a world-renowned and leading authority on issues connecting sports, society and social change.
In "A Letter to Bill Walsh" produced and first shown in 2017, Dr. Edwards' narrative describes Coach Walsh's vision to bring Dr. Edwards to the 49ers as the National Football League (NFL) demographics were rapidly changing in the 1980's. The narrative bears many similarities to the race relations in the United States today.
• Recognition of athlete protests in America - the role of professional athletes in these tumultuous times
• Listening and learning. Team and success is based first on caring for others. Individuals first must feel cared for themselves.
• Excellence and achievement not despite our diversity, but precisely because of it.
Together, they identified injustices and cultural trends and created programs eventually adopted by the NFL – drug counseling, financial literacy, college degree completion and the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching fellowship programs.
The 9:00 video concludes with the question, "Bill Walsh did his part. Have you?"
