Edwards came to competitive tennis as an adult, but natural ability and determination got him there fast. He spent 20 years coaching boys varsity tennis at Principia College, just across the river in Elsah, Illinois, winning two state championships, two sectional titles and several league titles. He coached girls tennis there too, and spent many summers teaching at camps and clinics, including assisting with Junior Davis Cup boys on Saturday mornings. 

Then he turned his attention to his own game. 

From 1972 to 1983 he was ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in the Missouri Valley 41 times. In the USTA Missouri Valley he won nine doubles championships with six different partners and three singles championships. Nationally, he won three Gold Balls in doubles, each on a different surface with a different partner: Bobby Riggs on grass, Ralph Hart on clay, Dan Walker indoors. He won six silver balls with three different partners and reached the finals twice in singles. 

Internationally, no European or American has matched his record of seven consecutive Los Monteros ITF Championships. He played on the Bitsy Grant Cup team in Austria in 1993 and represented the U.S. five times with the Gordon Cup team against Canada. 

(1990)