Berry football win takes on deeper meaning

Senior Shayne Edwards was reunited after 10 years with his great-grandmother when she attended his football game.

Allie Crain, Viking Fusion Assistant News Producer

Old Woman.png
Photo Courtesy of Shayne Edwards

On Saturday, September 20, Berry’s football team defeated Austin College 44-10 in Sherman, Texas. The win was vital for ranking Berry at #24 in NCAA Division 3, but for Berry’s Shayne Edwards, this game’s meaning went beyond the scoreboard.

Edwards, number 32 on the team, was born in Sherman, Texas and still has family residing there. His 95-year-old great grandmother Mary Irene Edwards, whom he calls “Nannie,” lives two blocks over from the field where the game was played. Edwards had not seen his Nannie for ten years, but Saturday, she was able to attend the game.

“She had never gone to [a football game] before,” Edwards said about his Nannie. “I was just really happy to see her. I mean, she said she was doing good and she was out and about, which she hadn’t been in a while.”

During the game, Edwards had four tackles and and interception, which contributed to the team’s record breaking total of six interceptions in one game.

“It was really cool. Not just from the sense of it being cool for her to watch me but, in the sense of, I know that she is doing good health-wise and that she is able to leave her home and come sit in the 85 or 95-degree weather to watch me play football,” Edwards said of knowing his Nannie was watching him play. “It just means a lot.”

Leave a Reply