ABSTRACT
Harry Edwards is, by whatever definition employed, a revolutionary. Intelligent, physically imposing, highly determined, extremely confident and always courageous, Edwards has fought for almost his entire adult life to ensure that African Americans are treated fairly in sport and that the USA lives up to its democratic principles. He also has pushed, both individually and in concert with other revolutionaries, for a fundamental change in how we think about sport and what policies need to be implemented to make it better. Like many revolutionaries, Edwards has always been a lightening rod, beloved and admired by many while at the same time being loathed and disrespected by others. Like many revolutionaries, Edwards undertook a number of approaches in his efforts to effect change, including scholarly writings, lectures, protests and boycotts. And like many revolutionaries, Edwards, in the latter stages of his career, worked more often within the system, a result of progress and positive changes in sport rather than any fundamental alterations in his basic principles and philosophical approach to the world. Seemingly out of the realm of possibility many years ago, Edwards has been recently acknowledged for his many accomplishments. He has been invited to deliver plenary addresses and has received other tributes. Perhaps more than anything else, this recognition has come from a new-found respect people have for the man who has served for so long as the conscience of sport.1
