Freddie Edwards provided a different account to the police. He admitted to arguing about the new rule, to retrieving a gun and to chasing Freeman. He told them that Freeman had asked him, “Please don’t shoot me, Freddie.” He said he told Freeman, “I’m not going to shoot you.” But he told the police that Freeman had grabbed the gun’s barrel and that the weapon had discharged.
Through the years, Freddie Edwards had experienced run-ins with the local authorities, including a gambling charge, an assault-and-battery case and a weapons charge. But Jerry Peace, chief prosecutor for Greenwood County, said Freddie Edwards was respected in the community.
“Sometimes you prosecute good people who make stupid mistakes,” Peace said.
Armanti Edwards had left his father’s house just before the shooting. Upon hearing of it, he collapsed on the floor and cried, his mother said. Anderson said her son struggled to cope and blamed himself. “He was ready to quit everything,” she said.
He persevered with the help of his coaches. While his father was under house arrest, Edwards passed for more than 2,000 yards, rushed for more than 1,100 yards and accounted for 29 touchdowns his senior year.
At Appalachian State, the Mountaineers opened with a loss at North Carolina State during Edwards’ freshman season. He did not start and played only in the waning minutes.
Afterward, a police officer escorted Anderson and her daughter under Carter-Finley Stadium, where they informed Edwards that his father had been sentenced to prison.
“He just fell apart again,” Anderson said.
Edwards sat on the team bus and cried. As he did, coach Jerry Moore consoled him and promised to take him to visit his father anytime he wanted.
Edwards has never made such a request, but Moore has been cleared by prison officials to visit Freddie Edwards.
“If he called me at 3 o’clock in the morning and wanted to see his daddy, we’d go,” Moore said. Two weeks after his father was sentenced, Edwards started his first game for Appalachian State. He was responsible for 252 yards of total offense, tossed a touchdown pass and rushed for another in a 41-0 victory. He is now 22-2 as a starter for the Mountaineers.
“Adversity has brought out the very best in him,” Moore said.
But Edwards still aches. He dreams about the release of his father, who predicted his stardom so long ago.
“I’m just ready,” he said, “for him to see me in person.”
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