Freddie Edwards AKA “Flex” has passed away

Traci Edwards Hovel is feeling empty with Ida Edwards in Cliffside Park, New Jersey.

April 14 at 9:11 PM · 2020

A lot of you guys know my dad was ill and for many years he played football at Univ of Texas on the 1963 Championship Team and was very successful. My mom, Aunt Linda Jo & Brenda Kocman have been angels helping dad through everything and helping me. I love them dearly and so thankful for their love, help & support.

My father just passed yesterday and it has been the hardest thing in my life that I have ever been through. I know he is in a better place, but there is a hole in my heart & I miss him.

I will miss “I love you daddy”

And then he would say “I love you baby”

I’m so proud of him & always grateful to be blessed with him as my daddy.

 Freddie was inducted in the Rio Grande Valley Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.  

Tommy Lucas -Freddie was a body builder lifting weights in order to enlarge his upper body and occasionally would look in the mirror to pose and “flex” his muscles hence Freddie Flex was his handle to people that knew him!! Tommy Lucas

Carl White- My condolences! Lost my father 11 years ago. Still miss him. Still talk to him most days. Remember the good. Bless you

I' m sorry I did not learn of Freddie's death until I saw him listed among the UT athletes we've lost. He was the prototypical Texas linebacker, savvy, strong, and, as Coach Royal would say 'Knew the difference between 'come here" and "sic em!' We kinda got off on the wrong foot when he took offense to a joke. Non-jocks often called football players "animals" and Moore-Hill Hall "Animal House." During two-a-day practices when Freddie was a freshman, several fellow student managers and I were walking across the main Mall, heading back to the dorm from a movie on the Drag, when I heard Freddie and several other freshmen players walking behind us. I turned around and said "Hey, you animals hold it down!" Boy, Freddie came after me like he was shot from a cannon. Fortunately, Diron Talbert saved me when he hollered, "Cool it, Flex! They're our managers." We turned out to be friends, but to be on the safe side, I never called him an animal again! RIP Flex, you sure knew how to "Hook 'em!" Roy Jones