Monday, September 16, 2024
SPRINGTOWN — Springtown Park Rehabilitation and Care Center resident Billy Edwards remembers his Olympic torch being heavier now than when he ran with it in Fort Worth about 28 years ago.
Edwards, who is 74 years old (and not a relative of the reporter writing this article), shared his story of Olympic glory to a captive audience of his peers at the center Aug. 2.
In 1996, Edwards thought his co-worker, Noreen Campbell, at Diamond Supermarket in Azle was playing a trick on him. They joked and kidded each other frequently, so when Campbell told Edwards that she had nominated him to be a torchbearer for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, he was unconvinced. Even when she got him to call the Coca-Cola company, which sponsored the torch relay, he still thought it was a big hoax.
“She wrote the recommendation,” Edwards said. “I have no idea what she said, but she must have lied a lot because they wanted good people to do this.”
On the contrary, Campbell told The Azle News in a previous article that she nominated Edwards because of his favorable qualities — a sense of humor, professionalism and likeability.
“I wrote that Billy is a very good role model for the employees in the store,” she said in the May 23, 1996, Azle News article. “He’s a gentleman, has good leadership qualities and everybody in the store looks up to him.”
Edwards said his wife also couldn’t believe he was nominated. In fact, it didn’t really sink in until the torch arrived in Fort Worth, and Edwards learned where his route would be — about 5/8ths of a mile on Rosedale Street in Fort Worth, an area which he was told was a bad part of town.
“Well, I shouldn’t have no problem running if I got to be running from people,” Edwards said at the time.
In spring 1996, Edwards was in his mid-40s. He played softball with a church league but still had reservations about running. However, that day, he said he wasn’t breathing hard, and trotting came naturally to him. He remembers a police officer pulling up to him on a motorcycle while he was carrying the torch to say that the police would follow at his speed, whether it be fast or slow.
“That's when the cop pulled over beside me and said, “Don't you worry about how fast you're going,’” Edwards said. “I said, ‘I'm not. Am I worrying y'all?’ He says, ‘No, no, no, no, I'm just saying we go at your pace.’”
At one point, the flame went out while Edwards was carrying it. He said some guys watching the procession ran up to him offering to light the flame, but an official stepped in and stopped this. The Olympic torch could not be relit with a cigarette lighter, but instead with the mother flame that was riding in a BMW, Edwards said.
Olympic torches change each time the summer and winter Games occur and are designed to represent the host country, according to the Olympics website. As such, the torch from the 1996 Olympics included a center grip made from Georgia pecan wood. The flame arrived in Los Angeles from Greece in April of that year and traveled across the U.S. until it arrived in Atlanta in July. More than 12,000 torchbearers participated in the U.S.’s relay.
The torches are designed to be wind resistant. When Edwards was carrying it at first, he held it upright and away from himself because he was nervous about getting burned.
“(Feeling the heat,) I said, ‘What if my hair catches on fire?’” he said. “My hair was longer then than it is now. I said, ‘Ooh, I don’t want that.’ I started holding it up straighter and away. And that’s when it blew out.”
When the flame was relit, Edwards was advised to let the torch lean back so the wind would blow over it.
After lighting the next person’s torch, Edwards said he fell as he was getting on the bus carrying the torchbearers and was put back on his feet by the man who had lit his torch.
“He reached down and grabbed me and picked me up with two hands. ‘Are you OK?’ I said, ‘I ain’t been this good in a long time, and I probably won’t be this good for the rest of my life,’” Edwards said. “He said, ‘My feelings exactly.’”
Edwards was given the opportunity to buy the torch, and his employers at the supermarket decided to pay for it. Edwards said he tried to leave the torch with the company but was told to “take it and enjoy it.”
“So, I took it, and I'm still enjoying it,” he said.
Talking about being a torchbearer causes Edwards to get emotional. He remembers his whole family being there, including his parents and oldest brother who have since died. The only person absent was one of his sisters who lived in Georgia at the time. She called him later that day to ecstatically tell him that she saw him running on TV.
“Family means a lot to me,” he said.
The 1996 Olympics were special to more than just Edwards. Though ancient Greeks started the Olympic Games around 776 B.C., Pierre de Coubertin led the revival of the Games in 1896, which meant the 1996 Olympics was celebrated as the centennial. In honor of the 100th anniversary, Edwards’ Olympic torch is engraved with all the locations of the Summer Olympics up to that point.
The final person who lights the final flame to start the Olympic Games is usually a celebrity, Edwards said. So, who lit the Olympic cauldron in 1996?
“Me!” Edwards joked to his peers before revealing that the person to light the cauldron was Muhammad Ali.
Edwards clarified that he didn’t dream of participating in the Olympics like the 1996 Azle News article implied, though he did enjoy watching the games in general. He likened the feeling of watching the Olympics to college football — the chance to see dedicated and humble young people put their hearts into their sport.
“The kids, to me, sound honest,” he said. “They say, ‘It’s an honor to even be here. I don’t even care if I win. I’m just glad I’m in.’ I thought I really do believe them. Truth and honesty go a long way with me.”
