This obituary is part of a series about people who died in the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others here.
Dave Edwards grew up in New York City public housing and played in Harlem’s Rucker Park, a spawning ground of basketball greats. He graduated from Andrew Jackson High School in Queens and became a record-breaking, crowd-pleasing point guard for Georgetown and Texas A&M., which announced his death on Monday in Queens.
Mr. Edwards was 48. His family said he had been in good health and had no idea how he contracted the virus.
A street-smart kid with something to prove, Mr. Edwards acknowledged in an interview with The New York Times that his demeanor had caused some people to doubt him.
“I’m cocky, I don’t back down,” he said. “That’s the way I was brought up. I come from a strong family. People talked about my height, my S.A.T. scores. They thought I was dealing drugs because I was living in the projects.”
David Edwards Jr. was born on Dec. 2, 1971, in Richmond, Va., to Paula and David Edwards and moved to New York before high school. At 5-foot-10, he was a star early on, averaging 41 points a game at Andrew Jackson, a New York City record.
He played freshman year at Georgetown, where he scored only two points in his first game, but notched 14 assists — the third highest in the school’s history until then. He played in all 31 games that season, scoring an average of 5.4 points a game.
Differences with the coach (Georgetown’s strategy favored taller players and discipline, rather than playground dazzle) prompted him to transfer to Texas A&M, where his 265 assists as a senior in 1993-1994 remains an Aggies record. He averaged 13.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game that season, ranking second in assists nationally.
Mr. Edwards became one of six Division I players in 1994 to have recorded a triple-double (10 or more in three of five categories — points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocked shots — in a single game). He was named to the all-Southwest Conference team for all three seasons of his Texas A&M career, scoring a total of 1,167 points or 13.5 per game. His school career record of 602 assists and 228 steals stood until 2016.
After college, he played for professional teams in Lithuania and Iceland. Most recently, he was the recreation manager for Elmcor Youth and Services Activities, a community service organization. He coached basketball there and at The Mary Louis Academy, both in Queens.
He is survived by his sons, David and Corey, and his longtime companion, Phenrisa Gilliam.
Mr. Edwards was also part of a basketball dynasty. His father, also named Dave, was a three-time captain at Virginia Commonwealth in the 1970s. His son, Corey, played for George Mason University and is a coach at Monteverde Academy in Florida.
